Serpent's Princess
by nickytheaweshum
Summary: When Princess Annabeth refuses to agree to an arranged marriage, her father punishes her by locking her in a tower guarded by a fearsome serpent. Little does she know that not everything is what it seems and when her world is plunged into war, she has to decide who she can really trust as the smallest mistake could cost her her life… and more. AU
1. Chapter 1: Exile From Home

**A/N This is my first fanfic so go easy on me! I hope you enjoy it! Btw I do not own Percy Jackson or its characters, Rick Riordan does. He's so lucky...**

Sunlight streamed in through the curtains, signalling the start of a new day. She lay in bed, her golden flowing hair strewn in all directions, tossing and turning in an uncomfortable sleep. Large grey eyes snapped open as she shot up. As she surveyed her surroundings, she sighed in relief and flopped back onto the bed. "It was just another dream. Thank goodness…" she murmured, wiping the numerous drops of sweat off her brow.

Much to her shock, the doors to her room burst open at that moment. "Princess! The king requests an audience with you immediately!" a black-haired girl with electrifying blue eye hollered, desperately trying to rise Annabeth from her sleepy stupor.

That's right; the blonde girl was Annabeth Chase, daughter of Frederick and Athena Chase, King and Queen of Greece. Annabeth rubbed her eyes and muttered, "Have you not heard of knocking? What does my father want with me this early in the morning? He hardly ever wants to see me. And I've told you a million times, Thalia. To you, it's just Annabeth."

Thalia's expression softened and she replied, "You know I cannot Princess because that would be above me. Now hurry up! Luke is waiting outside and you don't want him to see you in this state. Do you? Now, hurry up!" With those words spoken, Thalia placed a blue bundle in her arms and quickly bustled out of the room. Annabeth sighed. Even though Thalia had been both her personal attendant and best friend for many years, she still had trouble coming to terms with Thalia's bipolar personalities switching at any second of the day.

She looked down at her attire and let out a squeak. Dressed in her translucent nightgown with her hair resembling a bird's nest and soaked to the skin in sweat, Annabeth was in no shape to see her long-time crush and knight-in-training whom unfortunately only saw her as a sister and most certainly not the King of her country, even if he was her father.

Quickly she ran into her bathroom to wash up and prepare for the audience with the her father.

…

After Annabeth had finished washing up, she looked every bit like a princess. Her long golden hair reflected the sunlight, making them resemble moving golden waves tumbling regally down her back. Her baby blue dress rustled as she moved, signalling Luke of her arrival. As he swiveled his head to take a look at her, his mouth dropped open in awe. In short, she looked astounding.

Quickly recovering, Luke shot her a gleaming smile and offered her his arm. Gratefully, she accepted it as he started to lead her to the throne room.

Once they reached the throne room, the door swung open, granting them access. After walking Annabeth to her place in front of the royal couple, Luke bowed respectfully and walked away.

"Please sit down daughter. We have important matters to discuss," her mother said kindly. After Annabeth had taken a seat, Frederick Chase continued, "As you very well know, daughter, the situation with the kingdom of the Underworld has worsened as of late. If we do not do something now, the future of our kingdom will be in jeopardy. Our wars with Atlantis have not ceased. Them claiming we stole their son. Preposterous! Anyway, to help our kingdom, it has been an unanimous vote of the council that you get married to Hades' son, Nico Di Angelo to ensure they will fight on our side…"

The rest of her father's words went unheard by Annabeth who was rendered speechless. She thought, "Married? How could this be? The minimum age to marry in our kingdom is 17! That's two years older than I currently am. Besides that fact, there's no way I'm agreeing to an arranged marriage!" As the King babbled on about politics, Athena looked worriedly at her daughter. This was not going to turn out well at all.

"And of course you will be expected to have children in about a year-" Frederick was quickly cut off by Annabeth. "No." A heated argument quickly ensued.

"…what did you say daughter?"

"Never. I will never get married to someone I don't love."

"How dare you speak to me this way you impudent lit-"

"I'M NOT JUST SOME BARGAINING CHIP YOU CAN USE AND THROW AWAY AS YOU PLEASE! I'M YOUR DAUGHTER FOR GOD'S SAKE! I HAVE FEELING TOO YOU KNOW!" Annabeth hollered.

She heaved a sigh of relief. After years and years of being used by her father, it was a relief to finally be able to let out all those feelings of frustration and abandon. However, it was not to last for long.

"You have got to be kidding me."

"If this were a joke, I would have brought the palace jesters with me."

"THAT'S IT YOUNG LADY! THIS IS THE FINAL STRAW! YOU ARE HEREBY EXILED! AFTER ALL I HAVE GIVEN YOU, YOU STILL AND WENT TO PLAY WITH THOSE PEASANT CHILDREN AND NOW THIS! YOU WANT LOVE SO BAD? FINE THEN! I'LL LOCK YOU IN A TOWER AND WAIT FOR YOUR PRINCE ON A WHITE HORSE! WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THAT!" And with those words said, the King stormed out of the room with flourish, his expression thunderous.

After the turn of events had finally registered in Annabeth's mind, she buried her face in her hands and sobbed miserably. What had she done? The palace had been her home all her life and now her own father was exiling her. She would have to leave her comfortable life as a princess, her parents, Thalia and… Luke. She cried even harder. Glistening tears streamed down her cheeks, forming sparkling rivulets.

As she heard the swishing of a gown, Annabeth looked up and saw her mother looking down at her. Tears were forming in the corners of her eyes as she hugged her only daughter and murmured, "I'm so sorry. If only I had not been on a business trip yesterday, I would have been able to do something." Then, Athena had an idea.

She wiped the tears away from her eyes and confidently said, "I will convince your father. He will need time and much convincing but I will make it so that your friends can visit you on the first day of each month to keep you company. Good luck, my daughter. I hope that you will be able to find your happiness."

**END OF CHAPTER**


	2. Chapter 2: Meeting Percy

**[A/N]**** I don't own the characters, just the storyline. Hope you all enjoy it and please review! :)**

Chapter 2

_A voice called her name in the distance. Everything suddenly sharpened as if being in high definition. All around her, war was raging. The ground was stained a bloody red by the bodies of fallen warriors. All around her, chaos reigned. Warriors sporting green and blue clashed against those adorned with silver and gold._

_Then, a black shape was barrelling towards her. Once again, she heard her name being in called. And to her horror, a soilder burst out of the undergrowth, skewering the black shape. For some unknown reason, she felt her heart wrenching in unbearable pain as she tried to scream, but she was paralysed._

_The soilder whipped around. He pulled his sword out of the shape and advanced towards her, grinning maniacally. She tried to run but her feet refused to move. And as the man raised his sword…_

Annabeth woke up with a start, panting heavily. Once again, she was soaked to the skin in sweat. "Argh! The same dream over and over again, but I'm never any closer to finding out what happens next!"

She looked down. She was still in the dress she had worn to the audience with her father yesterday. After walking out of the throne room, she hitched up her skirts and ran to her room and locked herself in. Even though both Thalia and Luke had tried to coax her out, she simply refused to.

Her face was streaked with tears and her eyes were rimmed red from all the crying she had done the previous day. And today was the day she was to be brought over to the tower, she thought bitterly. _Knock knock._ As she called for the person to enter, she was surprised to see Thalia slowly shuffling her feet and entering her room.

She timidly asked, "Thalia? Whats wrong?" Thalia's eyes welled up with tears as she let out a loud wail and tossed her arms around Annabeth's neck. Annabeth slowly returned the hug. However, she did not cry as she felt as if she had no more tears left to cry. After a few minutes of comforting Thalia, Annabeth gently pried her away from her and suggested she started packing. Thalia mumbled an agreement as she wiped her tears away and went to get Annabeth's suitcases. Annabeth then proceeded to the washroom to change.

…

As she walked out of the bathroom, Annabeth took one last look at her ex-bedroom. The walls and tables were stripped or cleaned of any traces of a person residing there. Thalia had always been a fast worker. "Just like lightning," Annabeth thought sadly. All that was left was a single photo frame lying on her dresser. Annabeth walked towards it and picked it up. It was a picture of her childhood taken a few years ago.

Annabeth was standing in the middle with Luke wearing his knight in training armour on her right and Thalia wearing a peasant dress on her left. Their arms resting on her shoulders, the trio wore exuberant grins and looked as if they were having the time of their lives.

With one last fond look at the photograph, Annabeth placed it face down and sauntered out of the room without looking back.

…

Her bags had been packed, the carriage loaded. Now all that was left was the Princess herself. To all the servants at the palace, Annabeth was like family to them and vice versa. Many tears were shed and hugs were exchanged but the best was saved for last.

Thalia was travelling with her there as to make sure she was settled in so all that was left was to say goodbye to Luke as Annabeth refused to say goodbye to her parents. Thalia huffed, "even though that doofus is a knight-in-training, you'd think that he would have enough time to say goodbye to his childhood friend." At her words, Annabeth cracked a smile that did not quite reach her eyes.

On the inside, Annabeth had millions of thoughts whirling around in her head like a tornado. What if he did not come? What if he forgot? Or maybe his mentor refused to let him off? She sincerely hoped it was the last one.

Finally, it was time to leave. However, much to Annabeth's dismay, there was no sign of Luke coming whatsoever. Eventually with much hesitation, she boarded the carriage, her heart feeling like it weighed a million tonnes. Much to her relief, just as the carriage started to move, Luke ran forward, shouting for them to wait. Annabeth leaned out of the window waving frantically to him.

However, the carriage driver was under strict orders from the King himself to get the Princess to the tower as soon as possible so he paid no heed to the boy's shouts. Luke had no choice but to run alongside the carriage. He was running and out of breath but he tossed a tiny package into Annabeth's hands as the carriage sped out of sight.

Inside the carriage, Annabeth opened the messily wrapped package and as the cloth unravelled, Annabeth saw a silver charm bracelet with the letters A, L and T hanging off of it, accompanied by an owl, a lightning bolt and a pair of winged shoes.

Annabeth brought her hand to her mouth as she gasped softly. She put it on and it was a perfect fit. Glinting in the sunlight, the bracelet was beautiful. Tears welled up in her eyes as Annabeth buried her head into Thalia's shoulder as the older girl smiled down at her sadly.

…

**[A/N] I forgot to tell you guys the ages of the characters. Sorry!**

**Currently:**

**Rachel, Annabeth and Percy- 15**

**The Stolls, Juniper and Katie- 16**

**Thalia, Nico, Luke and Grover- 17**

After a few hours, the carriage finally arrived at its destination. The sight that greeted them was unlike anything she had ever seen. The 'tower' actually consisted of four large towers with a large moat of sparkling sea blue water surrounding it. It was like something out of a fairytale.

Just then, something as large as half of one of the towers, green and scaly leaped out of the water as if in greeting. Annabeth and Thalia gasped, their faces paled. Thalia nervously said, "So that's the serpent? Wow Annabeth. You might have to wait a long time for your prince to rescue you." Annabeth just quivered like an aspen leaf in reply.

Upon their arrival at the front of the fortress, they were greeted by a satyr playing his reed pipe. The satyr bleated, "Blahh. You must be Princess Annabeth and Thalia. It's nice to meet you. My name is Grover and I will be your servant during your stay at this Tower. Oh, and say hi to our resident serpent, Percy."

Just then, a tall head rose out of the water and raised its flipper. For some reason, it seemed to be smiling a goofy smile. At least, the best a serpent could smile. Annabeth just gaped at Percy. Was it possible for a serpent to look so cute?

Its shiny green scales perfectly resembled the sunlight being reflected on the water. Its eyes that so closely resembled a pair of onyx so mesmerising as Annabeth found herself losing herself in them.

Just then, she heard a voice in her head. _Do I really look that great? _Annabeth jumped in shock. "It…t…talked!" she stuttered. Thalia shot her a weird look and said she had not heard anything. _Of course I did. You're listening to me now aren't you? That pineconeface can't hear me though cause I'm not talking to her._

Annabeth said, "Hey! Don't call Thalia a pineconeface!"Thalia looked at her, a scandalised look adorning her face. Grover chuckled and said, "Percy is using his telepathy again. He can choose who can hear him or not. It is quite amusing at times. Like now."

Thalia shot the serpent a glare and said, "I'll let that slide this time sice you don't know me kelp-for-brains. And if you don't take care of Annabeth, I'll turn you into fish fillet!" Now, it was Percy's turn to look scandalised.

Quickly recovering, he brought a fin up to his forehead in a mock salute. Satisfied, Thalia walked back to the carriage to get Annabeth's luggage. Grover, who had been watching the exchange in an amused silence, bowed as low as he could, which was not a lot as he had a goat's legs, and gestured towards the front doors of the fortress.

As Annabeth walked across the bridge, Percy swam beside her and shot her a goofy grin. His strong, gleaming white fangs glinted in the sunlight. Annabeth shook her head in disbelief.

She was going to be here a long while.

**END OF CHAPTER**


	3. Chapter 3: The Cursed Duo

**[A/N] So this is the third chapter! Hope you guys enjoy it! Please review! Oh and no flames please! Although, constructive criticism is appreciated. I do not own any of the characters, Rick Riordan does… J ENJOY!**

Chapter 3

As Annabeth walked behind Grover, she closely examined her surroundings and to her surprise it was nearly as grand as the castle! Except, it gave off a much more homey feeling to it. Annabeth gave thanks to her mother. Surely it had to be her doing.

Grover climbed to the top of one of the towers and swung open a pair of large mahogany doors. Annabeth gasped as she drunk in the sight. It's walls were painted a lovely green colour, Annabeth's favourite colour.

"Just like Percy's scales," she thought dreamily. "No! Bad Annabeth! No more thinking about Percy's shiny scales or his lovely chocolate…" She let out a groan and flopped down onto her bed.

Grover asked worriedly, "Your majesty? Is the room not to your liking? I can change it if you wa-" He was cut off my Annabeth shrieking, "No!" Then, realising what she had done, her face burned red in embarrassment. In her head, she heard snickering while Grover shot her a worried look.

_Hey Princess. Do you like the colour of the walls? I chose them myself! _ A voice happily resounded in her head. Go figure.

Wait… was that serpent flirting with her?! She thought in horror. Grover looked at her expression and excused himself to go down and help Thalia with her suitcases. Upon closer inspection, Annabeth noticed that the room was nearly as nice as the one back in her palace.

The palace… where her father was. Trying to quell the raging inferno inside of her, she walked over to one of the wide windows and stuck her head out. She was greeted by a welcomed blast of salty sea air.

At that moment, a green blur shot into her room, dripping water everywhere. She let out an ear piercing scream and jumped backwards, only to slip on the wet floor and fall backwards. Bracing herself for impact, she shut her eyes… but it never came. She had landed on something soft and squishy that was somehow bigger than her.

Then, that thing let out a moan of pain. She rolled off and looked back at it. To her shock, it was a handsome young man no more than sixteen with unruly midnight black hair. And he had no clothes on. Annabeth did what any normal teenage girl would do. She screamed.

This time, her screams were heard by Grover and Thalia who burst through the doors soon after. Thalia spotted the naked man lying on the floor and squeaked, using her hands to shield her eyes. Grover bleated, "Percy? Is that you? You're cured! I can't believe you fell in love already! And with the Princess of Greece no less. Can you do me to-. Oh, nevermind."

As at that moment, Percy turned back into the mini serpent. Annabeth and Thalia were panting and too shell-shocked to speak. What in the world had just happened?

**[A/N]** **I felt like stopping here but I decided not to be so cruel to my good readers… ;)**

Grover looked down at the unconscious Percy in his arms. He sighed and said resignedly, "I guess you two deserve to know what happened since you will be staying with us for a while. It was like this.

"Two years ago, Percy and I were your average teenage boys. We were walking in the outskirts of our kindom where we met the witch of kingdoms. She spoke in this sweet voice to Percy and said that he would play a big part in the war predicted to happen in three years which is next year and that he would determine many things.

"Anyway, she cursed us and I became a satyr and Percy a serpent that could change its size. We cannot leave this clearing or turn back into humans unless Percy falls in love with another person mutually. He has one chance to confess and if it gies wrong, he will remain as a serpent forever. And apparently from what we have just seen, when Percy comes into contact with females, he turns into human form, albeit for a short while."

Thalia and Annabeth exchanged bewildered glances. If it had not been for Percy's transformation, they would have never believed it and assumed that they were chained demons from the Fields of Punishment.

At that moment, Percy had regained his consciousness and this time, everyone could hear what he said. _Woah. Why was I unconscious? And I had the weirdest dream! I turned back into a human for a little while, stark naked, with Annabeth lying on top of me. Crazy huh?_

Thalia bluntly said, "It happened. Deal with it kelpy. But what do you mean lying on top of you? You had better sort yourself out your Highness. The candidates will be arriving in a few days."

Annabeth blushed, her face closely resembling one of the sacred cows of Apollo, King of the Land of Music and Poetry. Even Percy's scales on his face turned a shade of red, making him look like a Christmas tree.

Annabeth quickly explained what had happened with Percy helpfully cutting in when Annabeth was lost for words. A match made in heaven already. They were just too blind to notice it.

…

Finally, after helping Annabeth unpack and exploring the main parts of the fortress, the sun was already setting and it was time for Thalia to return to the palace. Standing in front of the carriage, Annabeth and Thalia exchanged one last hug. After promising to owl each other every day and much hesitation, Thalia boarded the carriage.

As the carriage sped away, Annabeth continued waving and smiling until her arms and face hurt. Even after the carriage was out of sight, she continued to do so.

After a while, Percy felt a pang in his heart. He could not stand seeing his charge looking so sad. He hopped out of Grover's arms and grew to the size of a tiger. Nudging Annabeth's other hand to get her attention, he let out a whimper. She looked down at him sadly and together, they proceeded back to the fortress with Grover trailing behind.

That was right. They had to prepare as the prince candidates were coming in a few days.

**END OF CHAPTER**


	4. Chapter 4: The First Candidate

**[A/N]**** I do not own Percy Jackson. Rick Riordan does. Oh, and I recieved some reviews saying that Percy's hair is black and not brown so I corrected the mistake. Thanks to those who review! Please review more! :)**

Chapter 4

The next few days passed by uneventfully, apart from Annabeth occasionally ending up in the moat thanks to walking out the wrong door, only to be saved by Percy.

In addition, Annabeth had grown fond of the cursed serpent and took his flirting in good stride, occasionally retaliating in the same way. Theu grew fonder and closer to each other. But alas, they were too dense to notice it.

Instead of a protector, Grover became her friend and was the one she turned to if she had any complaints about being at the fortress. Their favourite topic was none other than Percy. However, it was difficult to have your own thoughts in your head with Percy around.

Sometimes, he would butt in with another dumb provoking comment. Or at least that was what it seemed to Annabeth. One time, Annabeth accidently called Percy cute as a human and was dutifully responded to by none other than the serpent himself saying thanks.

Gradually day by day, Annabeth started to enjoy her new life at the fortress. Sure she had to learn how to do chores and to cook but it was a new experience and she was eager to learn. Thinking about her way too sheltered life back at the palace, Annabeth began to be grateful to her father for exiling herto a better life without him noticing.

She had two new friends who treated her like family which nobody else had ever done before. At the palace, all the servants were friendly to her but there always seemed to be a huge gap separating them. With Thalia and Luke too, even if it was a little less.

There, she was not Princess Annabeth, future ruler of Greece. She was Annabeth. Just Annabeth. And she liked it. Life was great for her as she grew closer and more attached to the cursed duo. That was, until the prince candidate started arriving.

…

It had been a little over a week since Annabeth had begun her stay at the fortress. That morning, the three of them had been sitting at the table in the pantry eating breakfast. Percy had shrunk to the size of a turkey to fit on one of the chairs.

He was scoffing down a breakfast of bacon and eggs. He ate meat and vegetables, but for some reason, he hardly ever ate seafood, even if he was a serpent. And the times he did, it was mostly a series of accidents.

Annabeth was in the middle of questioning Grover on Percy's peculiar eating habits (because Percy was too engrossed in his meal) when a deep voice resounded through the walls of the fortress. "I, Maximillian Porter the Second, issue a challenge to the fearsome serpent for the hand of Princess Annabeth of Greece!"

For some reason, when Percy heard those words, he felt a strange feeling of protectiveness and just brushed it off as a friend feeling. Finally, he looked up and said; "That's my cue. Excuse me." Then, he jumped out of the window and into the moat.

Annabeth heard the little plop, signalling Percy had landed in the moat safely. Grover took her by the arm and started to lead her to her room. When Annabeth asked Grover why he was not fighting like Percy, he just shrugged and bleated, "I'm not as good at fighting as Percy. Even as when we were humans. Thus, it's like a silent agreement between us that he would fight. Whereas, I'm supposed to make sure you stay in your room safely as the fortress is rigged to become a maze to confuse the candidates.

"Fighting Percy and defeating him would prove that the prince has the strength to protect you and the maze is to prove that they have brains and are not all muscle. Although I doubt they will get past Percy."

Annabeth nodded her head thoughtfully. It was quite a good way to prove if the princes were worthy or not. So she just let Grover bring her back to her room quietly while straining to listen for the sounds of the battle.

…Outside with Percy…

Percy had now grown to full size and was swimming in front of the candidate, eyeing him up and down. Maximillian was wearing a full suit of shining silver knight armour that reflected the sun, making him look like a brave knight from a storybook.

However this was all totally for show as the prince almost wet his pants just looking at the full glory of Percy. He gulped nervously. He paled considerably as Percy decided to rise up to his full height as a serpent. Percy snickered.

_What a coward. And just a few minutes ago, he was acting like a pompous ass._ Percy smiled, showing off his glinting white fangs. The prince dropped his sword and took to his heels, wanting to get away as soon as possible.

_Big mistake, princey_. Percy thought to the prince. The serpent lashed out, quick as lightning and hooked his teeth on the collar of the candidate's armour and lifted up. Maximilian screamed, closely resembling a girl.

It was around this time when Annabeth had returned to her room. She poked her head out of the window, only to see Maximillian swinging by his collar from Percy's teeth, thrashing around wildly like a headless chicken. Just as Percy was about to drop the poor prince into the water, she hollered for him to stop.

She was just in time. Percy looked at her sadly. _Pretty please? I'll fish him out later? _ "No!" Annabeth stated firmly. Percy pouted sadly, accidentally dropping the prince in the process.

Annabeth gasped and covered her eyes. But the splash never came. When she opened her eyes, the dry prince was already running away for his life and Percy was looking at her expectantly. Annabeth groaned and said, "Percy, next time if both they and you know that they're defeated, please just let them go."

_Spoilsport. You never let me have any fun. _Annabeth retorted, "Yes I do! It is just that your methods of fun usually involve pulling dangerous stunts like that one back there!"

_But still…_

That was when the already provoked Annabeth lost it. "If you think that I am such a spoilsport, then why don't younot involve me with your schemes then?"

_Fine_

"Fine!"

_Good_

"Good!"

With that, the serpent sunk into the moat to sulk while Annabeth grabbed a random book from a shelf, sat down on her bed and started to read furiously.

Grover sighed as he stroked his goatee, "Their first lover's quarrel. This will be interesting. Now, where did I put the popcorn?"

**END OF CHAPTER**


	5. Chapter 5: An Ambush

**[A/N] I don't own Percy Jackson. Rick Riordan does and please review! I have a few pre-written chapters but I'm only gonna post them if I hit 42 reviews!**

Chapter 5

The next few candidates came and went with none of their personalities standing out whatsoever. True to his word, Percy let them go once he defeated them without torturing them unnecessarily.

However, neither Annabeth nor Percy, with their stubbornness issues, was willing to be the first one to break the ice for them to start talking again. Thus, they went around in circles, doing their best to avoid each other or otherwise giving each other the cold shoulder.

Poor Grover stood in the middle of all this. He expected it to be funny enough at first, but now he was almost ready to tear his hair out. Eventually, he got so frustrated that he decided to give them chores to keep them away from each other.

…

Nearly a month had passed since Annabeth had first arrived and all was peaceful, unless you counted the still quarrelling duo. That morning, Grover decided to pick strawberries at the edge of the clearing with Annabeth while leaving Percy to clean the fortress walls.

After filing the basket, Grover realised that many strawberries were ripe and returned to the fortress to get another basket while leaving Annabeth to take a breather.

Annabeth used her handkerchief to wipe off the sweat from her face. She was enjoying her time at the fortress very much but Percy still refused to talk to her and vice versa. If only there was a way for them to make up without them talking to each other.

Annabeth wracked her brain for ideas but came out empty handed. She closed her eyes as she sat down, enjoying a few moments of relaxation. Hearing the leaves of the nearby bushes rustling, Annabeth assumed that it was Grover coming back with the basket and remained with her eyes closed.

That was, until a hand shot out of the undergrowth and grabbed her arm roughly. Her eyes snapping open, she whirled around to face her attacker.

He was wearing a suit of armour bearing the crest of the kingdom of messengers and a malicious smile on his face. He said airily, "I thought that there was a serpent here to guard you princess? Oh well, I guess this makes my job much easier. This way princess."

Annabeth looked at the way he was eyeing her hungrily. "What a pervert!" she thought as she struggled against his grip. But alas, he was too strong.

Screaming the first name that came to mind, Annabeth kicked her attacker between the legs and ran towards the fortress. At the other side of the fortress, a pair of green ears perked up. The prince hissed in pain but quickly followed after her.

As the man quickly caught up to her, she screamed, "Percy! Help me!" At once, a green shadow came barrelling towards them, its size growing rapidly. It jumped onto the prince, knocking him off balance.

Enraged, the prince screamed, "guards!" Immediately, a band of about twenty to thirty soilders popped out from the bushes, behind the trees and surrounded the serpent. Annabeth remained outside the circle and gasped.

_Annabeth! Keep quiet and run! Grover will take care of you!_

_I'm not leaving you!_

_Just go!_

There was no way this ass of a prince was getting his hands on HIS Annabeth. With an almighty roar, Percy jumped up and attacked the nearest guard. The other guards quickly closed in on him and proceeded to attack. Left with no other options, Annabeth took to her heels and ran to the front door where Grover was waiting for her and waving frantically.

Just as she reached Grover, Annabeth turned around to look at Percy. He was valiantly fighting all the guards at the same time. With pride in her heart, she noticed that about a quarter of the guards were out of the count and another quarter were heavily injured, but still fighting.

Grover grabbed her hand and dragged her towards her room, despite Annabeth's protests to help. "Remember what I told you? Percy can take care of himself. Now, let's go!" Grover said hastily.

With much hesitation, Annabeth followed Grover up the stairs, albeit still as worried as ever for Percy's wellbeing.

…

Minutes passed. After what seemed like hours, Annabeth could not take it anymore. She started to stomp down the stairs when she realised that the sounds of battle had ceased except for the sound of rapid footsteps. Had they really defeated Percy?

Poking her head out of the window, Annabeth saw the badly beaten up prince and his guards running away, dragging the bodies of those unconscious with them towards a nearby carriage.

With horror, Annabeth realised they had been planning to ambush Percy as she observed the numerous weapons scattered across the clearing. But… where was Percy? He was nowhere to be seen.

Oh no.

Hitching up her skirts, she raced downstairs towards the front doors of the fortress with Grover following behind and calling her to wait for him. As she swung open the magnificent mahogany doors, she saw a small green shape floating face up at her feet.

It was none other than the serpent himself. However, he appeared totally unharmed. This was the time that Grover came out and saw Percy. His face paled as he hurriedly picked Percy up, bringing him into the infirmary.

Annabeth walked behind him with no emotions being displayed on her face. This, however, was all a façade as on the inside, she was facing total and utter turmoil.

As Grover lay the unconscious Percy on the infirmary bed, he frowned and said, "Annabeth, could you let Percy lay his head on your lap so that I know which parts of him to treat?" Annabeth obliged and with a loud pop, a naked Percy was lying with his head on her lap.

His body had so many bruises that he looked somewhat resembled a blackberry and lacerations adorned his body like decorations from head to toe. There was a particularly deep one across his left cheek. He had lost a lot of blood, so unlike last time when his skin had a nice tan, he was as pale as a ghost.

Annabeth's mouth dropped open in horror. She did not even care about the fact that Percy was naked anymore. This was all her fault, she thought. If she had never gone to the castle, Percy wouldn't have to fight to risk his life every single time to help her. And he would certainly not have been ambushed so cruelly. Annabeth buried her head in her hands, overcome with guilt and worry.

With his face grim, Grover began the vital process of treating Percy's wounds.

…

Several days had passed since the ambush and fortunately, no princes had come to fight Percy. The serpent was still unconscious, but his body was healing at a rapid pace. It was also the day that Luke and Thalia were due to arrive.

When Thalia and Luke had arrived in front of the fortress, they were expecting the trio to be there to greet them. But alas, they were greeted by the satyr who had bags under his eyes and was swaying on his feet.

Thalia immediately rushed over to him, calling his name and asking what had happened. In one breath, Grover told them about the ambush and how Annabeth refused to leave Percy's side.

As Luke heard about this turn of events, he felt an immediate dislike to the one called Percy and decided that he would be his rival for Annabeth's love.

As Grover led them into the infirmary with the help of Thalia supporting him, Luke was still calculating his chances with Annabeth. And so far, they were not looking good at all.

As they strolled into the infirmary, they were greeted by the sight of Annabeth sleeping on a chair next to the bed where a certain serpent laid. Luke laughed and let out a sigh of relief. Thank goodness it was just the serpent.

Thalia helped Grover to the other bed and as his head touched the pillow, Grover promptly passed out. Luke then began to shake Annabeth awake.

As Annabeth groggily opened her eyes, she was greeted by the sight of her two childhood friends staring down at her. With a squeak, Annabeth fell off of her chair, causing it to clatter to the floor with a loud thud.

Luke held out his hand and said, "Come on Annabeth! How about we spend today together, just like the old days. Weirdly, instead of her heart speeding up and immediately accepting, she looked at the injured serpent lying on the bed.

Luke frowned and thought, "For me to win her over, I have to make the most of today." Luke then smiled and pulled Annabeth out of the room gently, suggesting that Thalia should look after Percy.

Thalia opened her mouth to protest, but they were already gone and out the door. She sighed as she rightened the chair and sat down. "You had better wake up soon kelp-for-brains. Otherwise, you're gonna lose her."

Percy's hand twitched.

**END OF CHAPTER**


	6. Chapter 6: An Old Rival

**[A/N] I don't own Percy Jackson, Rick Riordan does and thanks so much for reviewing! Pleases continue! :) Next I'm aiming for 65! Please help!**

Chapter 6

It had been a few hours since Luke had arrived to take Annabeth out for the day and for some strange reason, Percy was healing faster than ever.

Not long after, Percy woke up. His eyes shot open as he sat up and was greeted by the sight of a flabbergasted Thalia. Quickly recovering, she said, "Good morning Sleeping Seaweed. You do realize you have been unconscious for days now? Annabeth is worried sick!

"Also, her old crush, Luke, is here and he is trying to steal her heart back right? Even though, I used to support them, there is something different about Luke now. Maybe it was Annabeth's departure but she looked happier sitting beside your bed than hanging out with Luke. We have been here all morning."

Percy mulled over it for a while, deep in thought. Finally, he looked up. _It's lunch now right?_

Exasperated, Thalia shrieked, "You dumbass! Another guy is trying to steal your girl and all you can think about is food! How selfish! Typical guy behavior. Although, yes it is lunchtime."

The serpent smirked. _Don't worry, I have a plan. Although, could you please get me a pair of pants from the cupboard?_

Thalia hesitatingly obliged. After throwing a pair of pants at Percy, Thalia crossed her arms and asked, "What now?"

With that, Percy hopped down from the bed and gave Thalia a big hug. With a loud pop accompanied by the sound of Thalia's squeals, the human Percy was standing in front of her. He quickly put on the pants.

With a voice that was pleasant on the ears, he said, "I'm going to go and rescue my princess." Thalia smiled approvingly. Finally! That Kelp-for-brains was doing something smart for once!

The determined mood was promptly ruined by the snoring Grover who started groveling for food. Exchanging a glance, Thalia and Percy burst into fits of laughter. Wiping crystals of laughter from their eyes, quickly, they devised a cunning plan to get Annabeth back before Luke and Annabeth returned to the fortress.

…

Luke scowled. They had been walking along the clearing for a few hours chatting amiably and Annabeth had yet to blush or look at her feet shyly like she used to. Now, she kept stealing glances over her shoulder, her attention clearly somewhere else.

It was all that Percy's fault, Luke spat. However, he failed to see what was so attractive about a puny serpent? Sure, the colour of its scales were pretty and unusual to find, but that was no reason to become so attracted to an animal, right?

She was not falling for the creature, was she..? Bah! Surely not! Like a woman of Annabeth's caliber and even more so the Princess of Greece would fall for such a demon.

As Annabeth once again stole another glance at the fortress, Luke finally lost it and snapped, "Will you cut that out? It's just a stupid serpent? Why do you even care about him anyway? He doesn't deserve a penny for your thoughts!"

Annabeth was really mad and also a little sad that her childhood friend was speaking so harshly to her. "He is a person who was injured because of me and he is also my friend. He is neither stupid nor undeserving or my attention and I thought you would understand better," she muttered angrily.

Luke let out a hollow laugh. "That does not mean you should spend every waking moment thinking about him or getting a lack of sleep! You have bags under your eyes that make you look ancient and I very much preferred the old Annabeth more! She was much prettier at least!"

Hearing no reaction from Annabeth, Luke began to grow worried. She was only quiet when she was really pissed or sad, otherwise she could easily retort to defend herself. He looked over at her.

Her fists were clenched and Luke could tell she was gritting her teeth. She had stopped walking and had bent her head down low, her golden hair shielding her face. Trembling slightly, she whipped around and began to run back towards the fortress.

Just then, she crashed into someone. She looked up and was greeted by the sight of an anxious Percy's face. The human, shirtless Percy. Tears welled up in her eyes as pulled him closer, crying his name repeatedly and burying her head in his chest. As warm arms enveloped her, she let a sniffle. Without a word, Percy began to lead her back to the fortress slowly.

From behind them in the undergrowth, Luke watched them warily. As he saw Annabeth hug the guy, he snarled. Is that really the serpent? The same unconscious, battered one that he saw lying in the infirmary a few hours ago?

Deciding to follow them, he stealthily sneaked behind them. Being prince of the Kingdom of Thieves sure had its perks, including learning stealth skills from a ripe young age. That was right. Luke Castellan, son of Hermes and May Castellan, rulers of the Kingdom of Thieves, second in line for the throne after Ethan Castellan, the prince that had ambushed Percy.

However, he was quickly intercepted by a lack whirl coming to a stop in front of him, obstructing the path to the fortress and spreading her arms defensively. It was none other than the third member of the childhood trio. "Leave them be, Luke. Can't you see they are made for each other? Maybe I'm not a matchmaker at heart like Silena, the girlfriend of your Knight Mentor, but I am sure that those two were made for each other. Can't you see she's finally happy?"

"I'm not letting her go so easily!" Luke retorted.

Pulling out her hidden spear and Aegis, she said, "Then you will have to go through me."

…

During the time of the clash between the two previous friends, Annabeth had explained her predicament to Percy as he comforted the sobbing princess in the pantry as they ate a nice meal of meatballs and spaghetti made by Thalia. But alas, once again, being the pair of dense people they were, the princess and the cursed serpent did not realize what a romantic setting that Thalia had set up for them.

After Annabeth had finally calmed down, she and Percy enjoyed the meal together quietly, apart from the odd flirtatious comment. After they had finished the meal, Annabeth finally realized that Percy was in his human form.

"How did you-"

"Thalia. And then you." She was quickly given a reply, the question long expected.

Shrugging, Annabeth piled up their dishes and began to wash them with expert precision and in record time while Percy watched her amusedly with his arm slung over the back of his chair.

When Annabeth was down to the last dish, Percy stood up to hug her from behind, breathing in the scent of her hair which smelt of books and blueprints which was strangely not a bad scent. Annabeth blushed furiously and started to stutter.

This was the time that Grover had awoken from his long deserved slumber and as he was greeted by this sight, he coughed awkwardly. The couple's heads whipped around, and when they saw Grover, Percy smirked happily whereas Annabeth blushed an even darker shade of red.

Grover bleated, "Am I interrupting something? Ahh… Well, I'll be off to find the other two then!" With that, the satyr took to his heels and scampered out of the door.

The two snuggled like that for a while, enjoying the warmth of their somewhat embrace and just enjoying a private moment together. That was, until Grover dragged a disheveled Luke and Thalia through the doors with much trouble as they kicked, clawed and screamed at each other. Each looked nearly as bad as Percy after the ambush. What on Earth could have happened between them? They usually got along together great apart from a little argument or two!

"Guys! A little help please!"

**END OF CHAPTER**


	7. Chapter 7: Clash!

**[A/N] I don't own Percy Jackson, Rick Riordan does. And thanks so much for reviewing! Sorry for the late update. Internet was down yesterday... Anyway, please continue to review! I'm aiming for 80 next! Hope you enjoy this chapter! :)**

Chapter 7

As Grover tried to keep the still fighting duo apart, they did everything in their power to escape his grasp, thus causing his efforts to be fruitless. As Percy and Annabeth hastily broke apart, they exchanged a glance.

The air was dense and heavy with tension, like lightning was crackling in the very room.

Nothing good was going to come out of this and they knew it. Thus, Percy ran to help Grover hold down Luke as Annabeth rushed to Thalia's side. However, as Percy got within a one-metre radius of Luke, the knight-in-training lashed out viciously.

He quickly escaped Grover's grasp with surprising agility and made an impeccable lunge for Percy. The impact was so great that it sent Percy tumbling to the hard wooden floor of the pantry with a loud yelp as Luke tried to pin him down.

Percy struggled and finally managed to push Luke off. If it had not been for the fact that Percy was still unused to his human form after so long, he would have done so much sooner and scrambled to his feet.

Fists and feet lashed out at each other furiously, delivering painful blows to the two fighters. For what seemed like an eternity, Annabeth, Thalia and Grover watched in terror as they showed no mercy, one with the absolute desire to kill while the other just wanted to defend himself. Well, you could easily guess who they were rooting for.

As Percy landed a devastating blow on Luke's arm, Luke stumbled backwards. Much to their horror, Luke quickly rebounded before Percy could react and gave a hard punch straight at Percy's jaw.

With a loud crack and a cry of pure agony, Percy flew back a few metres and crashed into the wall. He slid down into a crouching position with his back still against the wall, cradling his broken jaw.

To Luke, it was the final straw as Annabeth quickly raced to Percy's side, concern clearly etched across her face. He hollered with anger clearly evident in his eyes. "You are just a cursed, good for nothing demon that deserves to be killed! What in Tartarus did you do to her, you monster? What did you do to the shy, sweet girl I once knew? Now, she is just like another everyday peasant on the street! She will not even look at me in the eye anymore!"

Percy tolerated the comments about him as he had long prepared for mankind to say such things about him, even if it left a painful but invisible scar in his heart. However, once he heard Luke insult Annabeth, he began to see red. It became worse when he turned to look at Annabeth, only to see her covering her mouth with her hand and trying to hold back the oncoming onslaught of tears.

As Luke prattled on and on about how badly Annabeth had changed, he did not see Percy race to him with his arm ready to deliver a painful punch. Just before Percy's fist came into contact with Luke's right eye, Percy changed back into a serpent, sharp claws exchanging places with his human hands.

Thus, as he struck out at Luke, he left a scar that would never heal, never fade, just destined to remain there etched on Luke's face for eternity. It was the mark of an angry serpent. Curling around his face in green swirls that would eventually fade, it was truly a sight to behold.

Luke let out a howl of pain. It was so agonizing to hear that all the others in the room fell to their feet and covered their ears, trying in vain to block out the horrifying sound. With that, Luke brought his hand to his face to cover up the mark.

He snarled, "You have not heard from the last of me. I will make you pay dearly for this and the Titan kingdom will wage war on everyone. None of you will be spared. Except… Annabeth? Come with me and I will make sure you come through unharmed. You too, Thalia. Will you come? That serpent is not what he claims to be!" Well, guess that means Thalia had told him the whole story.

Annabeth hesitated. Luke had been with her for more than half her life. But now, she had Percy. The blonde turned to look at the serpent. No, her serpent. She would never leave him, not after all he had done for her. Even though she had known him for barely over a month, she felt attached to him unlike anyone else before. Even more than Luke. Percy looked at her pleadingly, his eyes sincere. On the inside, Percy was suffocating under the weight of the thought that Annabeth might follow Luke.

Annabeth made her decision. There was no real need for any decision anyway. Especially after what Luke had done. A month ago she would have said yes without giving it any thought. Now? Think again. Narrowing her eyes, she exchanged a glance with Thalia. She nodded.

The both of them slipped into a defensive position. Annabeth in front of the injured serpent and Thalia in front of the satyr. Annabeth said defiantly, "Never!" Thalia continued proudly, "Yeah! You will not hurt our friends before going through us! So you can just stick your offer up your assh-"

Annabeth quickly cut her off exasperatedly. "Point is, we're not going with you and that's final!" At first Luke thought she was joking. That was, until he saw the gleaming defiance in the girls' eyes. Electric blue and stormy grey. Scary by themselves and terrifying together.

Luke hissed. "You will regret your choices. I will be back! And this battle has not finished yet, Perseus Jackson!" Then, he sprinted out the door. This battle was over for now.

_I could not agree more, scarry~_

Annabeth gasped and slapped Percy on his fin. The other two burst into laughter and the tension dissipated.

…

Night had fallen. Thalia was in the carriage back on her way to the palace. Annabeth and Grover were sound asleep. Nontheless, a certain serpent with an aching chin felt restless as he hopped out of the moat and jumped through Annabeth's window, reducing his size in the process.

As he slithered over to Annabeth's bed, Percy looked at the sleeping princess. She looked like a goddess out from the myths of ancient Greek herself. Percy sighed as he looked at her. The thing bothering him was the fact that Luke had known Percy's full name. Does that mean Annabeth knew too?

Looking back at the sleeping angel, Percy shook his head. He had been so careful, and yet, a person who had only know him for a day already knew his most closely guarded secret.

Slipping out of Annabeth's room, Percy went to his own room. Yes, even though he was a serpent, he still had a room although he was more comfortable sleeping in the moat in serpent form.

Opening the closet was tough with fins for hands, but he managed to pull the door open. As the door swung open with a soft creak, a badge came tumbling out. Percy curled up against it in the closet. It was the only thing he had left of his home. Pinned onto his clothes when he was cursed, it was the only thing that reminded him he was no ordinary human.

What Grover had told the girls was not exactly true. He was not an ordinary teenager and neither was Percy. He was a prince with Grover as his personal attendant. They had been running from the guards after causing mischief and accidentally ran out of the palace grounds and into the nearby woods, where they had met the Witch of the Kingdoms.

Percy let a lone tear slid down his cheek. He missed his home, his family, and his friends. Even his annoying bodyguards, the Stoll brothers. Yet, since Annabeth had arrived, he would not rather be anywhere else in the world and this was the first time he had felt this way since she arrived. He assumed this was due to the fear he felt when she was thinking about going away with Luke.

Another crystal slid down his cheek to join the other one. As Percy remembered a particular conversation with Annabeth about her exiling, something she was much reluctant to talk about, Percy wondered if Annabeth would hate him if she found out he was the missing prince of Atlantis, the Kingdom waging war against her Kingdom. The whole reason she was forced into an arranged marriage in the first place.

**END OF CHAPTER**


	8. Chapter 8: Unexpected Visitors

**[A/N] I don't own Percy Jackson, Rick Riordan does. Hope you enjoy the story and please review! I'm now aiming for 100! :)**

Chapter 8

The days flew by and before they realised it, it was already a year after Luke had tried to attack Percy. Said person had also formed a bond with Annabeth and was quickly establishing his feelings for her.

To add to Percy's numerous problems, along with fighting princes to keep Annabeth his and even making Grover give them chores together, he had no experience with girls at all.

None. Zero. Gauge empty to the very bottom.

This was due to the fact that before he was cursed at the tender age of thirteen. The particular age where boys started to notice girls seriously for the first time as any younger they would still be as dense as a rock. After he was cursed, common sense tells us that Percy even though attractive, would have a hard time getting girls being a serpent and all and only finding out he could turn back two whole years later.

As a result, this led to many awkward situations of trying to win Annabeth over, only to fail miserably. The only thing good about this was that the princess started to notice her own feelings for him herself. Fortunately, thanks to the serpent's constant flirting and teasing, she had gained much confidence and has bloomed into a witty beauty.

In fact, some days led to Percy being the one lost for words and not the other way round. She had even learnt to block out his powerful telepathy. Meanwhile, poor Grover was watching from the sidelines as the two dense idiots constantly danced around the subject. They even came up with nicknames for each other.

Seaweed Brain for Percy "Because he has seaweed in his brain all the time and will not use his head properly!" Which Percy responded to by calling Annabeth Wise girl. In truth, it was a pretty lame comeback but the explanation was spot on. _Because she acts like a smartass twenty four seven!_ This, of course earned him a thwack upside the head from Annabeth and causing him to turn into a naked teenager, making Annabeth stutter and blush. This was one of their most common quarrels.

Grover sat at the sides taking it all in quietly and patiently. Their banter was quite entertaining, to a certain extent anyway. Although, it truly caused him to get a headache sometimes and gave him a strong urge to bang his head on a nearby wall or table repeatedly. The days Thalia visited sometimes involved her joining him. Luke had not come since though.

They both loved each other and they knew it deep in their hearts. All that was needed now was for them to confess to each other.

In short, life was good. Could be better, but good nonetheless. But just like the calm before a storm, it was not to last.

…

It had been a week since Thalia was due to arrive, but there was no sign of her or a message anywhere. Annabeth was starting to get worried.

Confiding her fears with the cursed duo turned out to be the right choice. She was glad that she had not chosen to keep it all in and let it gnaw away at her.

Being a serpent that did not eat seafood, Percy had the respect of many creatures of the sea and land. Also besides that, he was the Prince of Atlantis where those of the royal bloodline had a special connection with the sea and things living in it.

Deciding to use his powers, Percy summoned a few seagulls to help carry a message to Thalia. However, the day right after they had sent the letter, the trio was awoken to the loud and annoying sound of a trumpet.

Groaning lethargically, Annabeth rolled over in bed, trying to get more shut eye. Even though the nightmares were happening less and less often, they were soon replaced by dreams or a certain green scaled, black eyed serpent. Thus, resulting in no sleep even if there was more comfort and peace.

It took a few seconds for Annabeth to realise that it was the sound of the royal horn, only used to signal a Greek royal passing through. Annabeth hastily rolled out of bed, her hair resembling an owl's nest as she raced to the bathroom to get ready for another audience with her parents. Hopefully, the outcome would be positive this time.

If only, Annabeth. If only.

…

Outside in the moat, Percy was facing a similar plight. Being woken up by the sound of a trumpet was not the best thing in the world so it did nothing whatsoever to help his mood.

With a loud grumble, Percy grew to the size of a tiger and leaped out of the moat in a single, fluid motion. The sudden movement caused the royal guards and knights to snap to attention. Some of them shot forward to huddle around the King and Queen protectively while others opened fire on the serpent.

With a roar of pain, Percy fell back into the water to try and hide from the onslaught or arrows. "Mother! Father! Do not hurt him, I beg of you!" Annabeth cried, hitching up her skirts as she ran towards her parents. The heavy green skirts protested vehemently but she continued nonetheless. The archers ceased fire immediately.

As she beckoned for Percy to join her, she warmly embraced her parents, even her father. Even if he had exiled her, she learnt that it was for her own good. And if he had not, she would never had met Percy and Grover. Or discovered what a traitor Luke was.

As she broke away from her parents, her mother looked at the serpent and frowned. Something was not right but she just could not put her finger on what it was. Athena snapped back to reality as she heard her husband calling her name.

She cautiously approached Percy and said, "thank you for taking such good care of my daughter." She reached out to pet his head.

At that moment, Grover came out of the fortress, only to see the Queen of Greece about to change Percy into his naked human form. "My lady! Don't touch Per-"

He was cut off by a loud pop.

As Percy appeared in human form, naked of course, Athena shrieked and so did her accompanying handmaidens. The small army raised their weapons and surrounded the boy and Annabeth, who had run to Percy's side to help him up.

Frederick Chase thundered, "Daughter! What in Tartarus is the meaning of this blasphemy?"

As Annabeth explained the situation to her parents, Grover had returned with a pair of pants and a tunic for Percy. He hastily donned the clothes. After Annabeth had finished her story, her parents and their whole army had their mouths agape and eyes bulging, leaving plenty of space for a giant spider to crawl in.

As Annabeth looked at Percy, Athena could see the adoration and love radiating from her daughter, especially from her eyes. She quickly pulled Annabeth aside, her tone urgent and meaning business.

Once they were out of earshot, Athena took a deep breath and confronted her daughter. "Please do not tell me that you have fallen for the boy!" Annabeth refused to meet her mother's eyes, keeping them firmly on the floor.

On the other side of the fortress with his enhanced hearing, Percy was quietly listening in on their conversation as the others fidgeted uncomfortably. _Why isn't Annabeth responding?_

Athena knew that look. It was the same one she had when she had fallen in love with Frederick Chase when he was still a peasant.

"Annabeth… If you do not want to lose Perseus, I suggest you run. I will distract your father."

"But…Why?"

"The feud with Atlantis is not going well. They are about to wage war on us. Your father wants to bring you back and give you as a peace offering to Atlantis as a bride for the first son, Triton, instead of Nico Di Angelo. Apparently, he has already found a bride in your friend, Thalia when he last came to visit. They wiill be getting married in three weeks. She is at the castle preparing. You should be safe at a nearby town. Now, go!"

Percy sucked in a breath. The thought of the love of his life marrying his cocky and jerky older brother was almost too much for him to bear. That also explained why Thalia had not come last time. Using his telepathy, he contacted Annabeth.

_Wise girl! We have to run!_

_Percy? Were you listening in on us? How dare y-_

_No time for that now. We have to get you out of here!_

_But you guys can't leave this place!_

_Actually we can only enter a village not too far from here..._

_You have a lot of explaining to do, Seaweed Brain._

_I know, but now is not the time for that!_

_You're right. Get Grover and meet me where Thalia is now._

_Agreed. We have to run. It's now or never._

**END OF CHAPTER**


	9. Chapter 9: On The Run

**[A/N] I don't own Percy Jackson, Rick Riordan does! Thank you for all your support and please review! 115 is the next target. Hope you enjoy~ **

Chapter 9

As Percy snapped out of his telepathic conversation with Annabeth, he turned back to the current matter at hand. While he had been out of it, Grover had surprisingly struck up a conversation with the King which seemed to be going quite well.

As the King threw his head back and laughed heartily at something Grover said, Percy quickly took advantage of the opportunity and used his telepathy. _Grover,we have to get to the village. Now. I'm going to get Annabeth. You use the underground tunnel and meet us there._

As Grover pointed at something invisible in the sky, screaming, "What the heck is that?" the whole army including the king, turned to look at the imaginary distraction.

Grover shot Percy a thumbs up. Seeing that Grover had heard him, Percy quickly took to his heels and ran to the back of the fortress. On the way, he also heard Grover excusing himself and the doors of the fortress opening and closing. As Percy rounded the corner to where Annabeth was, he hissed loudly, "Annabeth! Come on! We have to g-"

He was cut off by a loud pop and moments later, a serpent the size of a tiger was in his place. Percy groaned inwardly. Why did he always have to change at the worst moments possible?

Annabeth sighed resignedly. "You have impeccable timing Seaweed Brain. Now what are we going to do? I won't be able to keep up with you at this size and any smaller, you will not be able to walk. Athena blinked amazedly.

That was the first time either than the day of her exile that Athena had ever seen her daughter act so forward and comfortable. The exile had really done wonders for her. Athena looked at the discarded pair of pants on the floor and suggested, "Why don't you drape that over Percy's back and ride him like a horse.

The two teenagers looked at each other. Why had they not thought of that. Oh well, Athena is not Greece's top battle strategist for nothing. Nodding in agreement, Percy laid low to allow Annabeth to mount him. Hastily, Annabeth draped the pants over Percy's back and straddled his sides.

Bidding farewell to the Queen of Greece, the duo set off down a path with Percy taking leaping strides in hopes to get away as far as possible. Much to their dismay, this caused the leaves in the nearby trees and bushes rustled loudly.

They turned back to rectify their mistake, but the damage was done. Cries of exclamation and surprise echoed from the soilders. Gesturing for them to head off, Athena turned around to look at the oncoming army.

She had a lot of explaining to do.

…

About an hour had passed with Percy sprinting at full speed, but he was starting to show signs of slowing down. Annabeth immediately noticed his change in pace and demanded for him to stop as soon as they neared a body of pond which was luckily a large pond. Percy obliged, too out of breath to try and argue.

As Annabeth dismounted, taking the makeshift saddle with her, Percy immediately jumped into the pond with a loud plop. Enjoying the cool and refreshment the pond gave him, the serpent playfully splashed Annabeth with water. As the cold droplets of water came into contact with Annabeth's overheated and sweaty skin, she let out a yelp of surprise, finally realising how hot she was in the stupid frilly dress.

Grabbing a sharp stone from the ground, she quickly slit off the ankle length skirts until they reached her knee. Breathing a sigh of relief as the wind cooled down her legs, she sighed in contentment as she basked on a big rock nearby.

Picking up on the idea, Percy hopped out to join her and curled into a ball at her feet. But not before shaking himself dry and wetting Annabeth too her protests.

After a few minutes, Annabeth realised how quiet it was without the wind in her ears or the sound of Percy splashing happily in the water. It was quiet, but not serene. In fact, she would even go so far to say it was too quiet.

As Annabeth's eyes snapped open, she saw that Percy had already noticed the unnatural silence and was standing protectively in front of her. There were no sounds of animals, even crickets. Strangely, the wind had also died down and the atmosphere was getting tenser and colder. The only thing that could have done this was a demon.

Drawing out a bronze dagger that she had snagged from the kitchen from her belt, Annabeth leapt off the rock into a defensive position. However, the sudden movement and loud sound caused the demon to come out of hiding.

Leaping out from the undergrowth, a black blur attacked Percy from his left. The sudden impact caught the serpent off guard, throwing him backwards.

The black shape wasted neither time nor opportunity and rapidly pinned Percy to the ground in less than a second. When the shape stopped moving, Annabeth could clearly see that it was a hellhound. But I thought those only came from the Fields of Punishment Annabeth thought confusedly.

What puzzled Annabeth even more was that a mere second later, the hellhound rolled off of Percy and they started to sniff and lick each other. After the two animals had calmed down, Percy saw Annabeth's confused look and snickered. He gestured towards the hellhound.

_Annabeth, meet Mrs O' Leary, my friend and battle partner._

_But…but… I saw you two attack each other ferociously a few minutes ago!_

_Yes, and she obviously won that fight._

_Huh?_

_Basically, we help each other train. Whenever we see each other, we must attack each other to try and catch each other off guard._

_How do you know a hellhound anyway?_

_Wow. Interrogation much. _Cue serpent eye roll.

_Mrs O' Leary was my pet back at the pala- home. Home. She used to be a black Jack Russell Terrier and was with me when Grover and I were cursed. She got caught up in the spell and was turned into a hellhound. Unlike me, she can change back if she wants to with the maximum duration being a week. Although she would require a long time to recover._

_Ooh._

_Happy now Mrs Officer?_

_Yes. Very much although thank you for your concern. _Sarcasm was evident in her voice.

_That's great. Oh and she's coming along with us too._

_Then lets go!_

With that, the trio set off towards the village with Annabeth riding Percy again and Mrs O' Leary bounding behind, her tongue hanging out of her mouth and wagging furiously.

…With the King and Queen…

"What do you mean you let them get away?"

"I'll make this simple for you. My daughter is not going to have an arranged marriage so I helped her escape."

"Where are they going then?"

"I am not sure. To some nearby village I expect," Athena replied absentmindedly, her mind too clogged up with the day's happenings. After realising what she had said, she clamped her hand over her mouth, ut the damage was done.

Smiling triumphantly, King Frederick issued out immediate orders. "Guards! Spread out and search the nearby towns! I want every nook and cranny searched and every rock unturned! Do not let them escape! I repeat, do not let them escape! The future of our country depends on it!"

After a moment's thought, he added, "And if you find a green serpent, a satyr with a goatee or maybe a brunette male teenager, kill them on sight! But bring my daughter back alive and unharmed!"

Athena looked at her husband. He could be so stubborn sometimes. If only girls had more say in things these days. Banging her head against the carriage wall, Athena sighed. If only that serpent, Percy was a prince, then everything would be so much easier.

Poor Athena. She had no idea of Percy's true origins.

**END OF CHAPTER**


	10. Chapter 10: Juniper Green

**[A/N] I don't own Percy Jackson, Rick Riordan does. Please review and thanks for your support! This is my longest chapter yet so hope you fuys enjoy it! I'm aiming for 140 now! Hope to update soon! -nickytheaweshum**

Chapter 10

When they finally reached the village, the sun was about to set. The sky was set ablaze as red, pink and orange mixed together to form a breathtaking mural that truly belonged in romantic stories. Clouds in the sky were mostly pink, making them look like candy floss.

In the outskirts of the village, Percy paused with Mrs O' Leary calmly panting at his side. He craned his neck to look at the girl riding on his back. She had fallen asleep a few miles back and was half lying on Percy's neck, but thankfully she was not touching him with her bare skin. Her flowing golden hair fell across her face, shielding it like a curtain to prevent unwanted onlookers.

Percy smiled lovingly at the sleeping princess and even Mrs O' Leary could sense the overflowing affection he had for the girl.

Back at the clearing, she also could tell how worried Annabeth was about Percy when Mrs O' Leary attacked him. The look she gave was not the usual "Oh my god! Are you ok?" friend type of look.

It was more the "You had better stay alive because I could never live without you" sort of thing. If they could not even muster up the courage to admit their feelings for each other, they were really oblivious. Even a dog, although above average intelligence, could tell the chemistry between them was incredible.

As she watched her owner continue to stare lovingly at the girl, she inwardly groaned. At this rate, they would be there until the gods died! In other words, a very, very long time.

Taking the initiative to get Percy out of his stupor, Mrs O' Leary gave a sharp bark, but the serpent did not even blink. Putting a paw to her forehead, Mrs O' Leary groaned once again. What was she going to do with him? Sometimes it felt like she was the responsible owner and he was the pet to stubborn for his own good.

Finally, Mrs O' Leary smacked her paw over Percy's face, blocking Annabeth from his sight. As happy as she was to see her owner so in love, there was only so much a dog could take.

Snapping out of his reverie, Percy blinked and shook his head a few times. This particular motion caused Annabeth's bare hand that had been previously swinging in midair to brush against Percy's neck, causing him to, once again, turn into a human.

As Percy turned into a human, he landed face flat on the ground with his limbs sprawled out in random directions and Annabeth sitting on his back. Annabeth's eyes snapped open at the sudden movement.

"Who? What? Whe- Seaweed Brain?" Annabeth asked confusedly from her perch on Percy.

"Hey Wise Girl! Umm… do you mind getting off of me?" Percy's muffled voice rose up from the ground.

Realising exactly where she was once she turned around and saw something she wished she had never seen, Annabeth squeaked and hastily clambered off. Her face burned red in embarrassment. Percy let out a moan of pain as he sat up with all the effort he could muster.

Annabeth's face turned even redder, if it was even possible as she buried her face in Mrs O' Leary's jet black fur. Looking down and seeing just what thing caused Annabeth to be so embarrassed, Percy let out a strangled noise. He sounded like something had died and its decaying corpse gave off a repulsive smell, causing him to gasp for fresh air.

The prince hastily scrambled to get dressed, his face a shade of red, but it could not even compare to Annabeth's. Mrs O' Leary just snickered.

After he had finished covering up, Percy coughed gently to let Annabeth know that the scene was completely PG-13. To cover up her embarrassment, Annabeth quickly moved on to serious matters.

"Seaweed Brain, are you sure its safe? If you turn back into a serpent in the middle of a crowded place, will it not cause us much trouble?"

"It is not like I have much of a choice, do I, Wise Girl? But the only way to stop me from turning back is to come into contact with a female's bare skin." The serpent said sarcastically.

"Don't you dare use that tone with me, Percy!" Ouch. For her to use his actual name when they were fighting means that she really did mean business.

"This is no time for jokes. My father's guards are probably looking for us right now and we can't just hold hands the whole time we are in public anyway!" A lightbulb went off inside the head full of seaweed.

"Besides I think we should change Mrs O' Leary's name for now as it is too uncom- Percy, why are you looking at me like that?" Percy was smiling goofily at Annabeth and holding out his hand.

"Say that again."

"Umm.. we should change Mrs O' Leary's name to something like Shadow?"

"No, not that. Before that sentence. Although, that is a really good idea considering that people from the palace would know the name because the people of my kingdom come through here a lot and-"

"Whoa whoa whoa, Seaweed Brain. You said palace? You lived in a palace? Are you royalty or something?"

Percy flinched but fortunately for him, Annabeth was too engrossed in her thoughts to see. "I am the son of someone who works at the palace so I went there quite often." Well, at least he did not lie. His father is the King so he works in the palace and Percy goes to visit him every alternate day, choosing to spend his time pranking the servants and guards.

Annabeth looked at him suspiciously, not quite believing him but decided to drop the matter. Percy sighed in relief as Mrs O' Leary changed into her original form and they set off towards the village to find Grover and a place to crash for the night.

The couple were walking shoulder to shoulder. When Annabeth's hand brushed Percy's, he looked down at their hands bumping each other with every step and then at Annabeth who quickly looked away as his eyes met hers.

Percy smiled that adorable smile of his and quickly but carefully grabbed her hand. It looked so perfect and fragile that it would break even upon the touch of a feather, just like the rest of her. But Percy knew better than to underestimate Annabeth.

Wincing upon all the bruises he had received from her in the previous year, Percy cringed. Feeling his grip tighten on her hand, Annabeth looked as his face. Assuming he was emotionally hurt from thinking she did not want to hold his hand, she quickly interlaced her fingers with his and squeezed his hand.

Surprised but contented, Percy brought their hands up to his mouth with Annabeth's hand on top and kissed it. Annabeth spluttered, clearly flustered from the unexpected move as she halted mid-step. Chuckling softly, he guided her to the village.

Mrs O' Leary was laughing in silent and uncontrolled mirth as the black Labrador rolled on the floor in fits of laughter. They were a romance slash comedy series all in themselves. They did not even notice as they walked off, too caught up in the moment.

Finally recovering, she shook off the leaves from her body, still panting and wheezing as she happily trotted off after her owner and his unofficial lover.

…

Slamming his mug of juice on the table, Grover looked at the sundial in the café. They should have been here a long time ago! Unless they were stopping to do something dirty. As the thought registered itself in Grover's head, his lips curled into a lewd smile as perverted thoughts filled his head.

That stream of thoughts were quickly put to a stop as someone smacked Grover upside the head, causing Grover to face plant himself into his mug of juice.

Whipping around to confront the offender, Grover snarled, then paused as he was greeted by the sight of his secret girlfriend, Juniper. Yes, even Grover had his secrets that even Percy did not know of. This was only one of the dozens.

They had first met the year before the last, about a year after Grover and Percy were cursed. Every once a month, Grover would go to buy food and stock up the fridge at the local market. He met Juniper there on that fine morning, trying to promote the café. It was love at first sight and things went uphill from there.

With her green hair and flashing brown eyes, she was a true beauty. Even if she had an annoyed scowl on her face with her arms akimbo. Grover gulped nervously. He was in for it.

Juniper Green was one of the town's prettiest inhabitants. Alas, to make up for her good looks, she was abandoned at the age of five on the doorstep of the owner of the pub.

Fortunately, the owner was a kind lady by the name of Hestia who had recently lost her own child and was sinking deeper and deeper into depression. To help heal the hole in her heart, she took Juniper into her care and welcomed her with open arms, treating her like her own child.

With her humble beginnings and the attitude of a hard worker that Hestia had driven into her in her early days, Juniper never let her fame get to her head. Unlike some people *cough* Max Porter *cough*. However, she had quite a temper which was the main reason suitors restrained themselves from flirting with her. Oh, and the fact that she got her temper from the otherwise serene Hestia. Except ten times better than the original.

Luckily, it rarely acted up. This was one of those rare times.

"Grover Underwood! Wipe that disturbing smirk off of your face! You were thinking about something disgusting weren't you?" Adding in a hurt voice, she murmured, "And it's about a girl other than me, isn't it?"

Realisation dawned on Grover as he stood up to hug the jealous girl from behind in an attempt to comfort her. Took him long enough.

"Juni… I never think about any other girls than you! I was just thinking about Annabeth an-"

"So it is another girl! You cheate-"

"Let me finish! I was thinking about the fact that Percy and Annabeth were late meeting me here. They are walking in the woods all alone. In a secluded area. With no one else around. A teenage guy and girl alone together. Get my point?"

Grover's point got across and Juniper smirked. She was the only person in the world either than Percy and maybe Annabeth that Grover trusted his life with and he told her everything, even about Percy and the curse.

Turning around in Grover's arms to face him, she said, "Guess that serpent finally got himself a girlfriend. That means I can have you more to myself…"

She pulled Grover down for a kiss and he eagerly obliged. He could meet Percy and Annabeth later.

Right now, he had a little… business to take care of.

**END OF CHAPTER**


	11. Chapter 11: Finding Grover

**[A/N] I don't own Percy Jackson, Rick Riordan does. Thank you for all your support and please review! They give me courage and the drive to continue this story. Hope you enjoy this chapter! **

Chapter 11

Percy and Annabeth strolled into the village hand in hand with Mrs O' Leary or otherwise, "Shadow" trotting happily at their feet. They looked like a normal couple out on a date. Except for the fact that Percy was shirtless and Annabeth's skirts were ripped to shreds.

**[A/N] I will be calling Mrs O' Leary Shadow from now on to avoid further confusion.**

Their skin was covered with mud and dirt, making them look grimy as if they had not showered in days. Their hair was unkempt, fighting a battle with the few stray leaves and twigs in their hair, although they were losing by quite a bit.

However, if one looked past their unappealing appearances, they could see that the couple was truly happy to be walking beside each other.

They were obviously in love and majority of the passers-by could tell they were a couple even without seeing their intertwined hands. The minority could tell there was chemistry rarely seen between them though.

Being a princess, Annabeth had been sheltered for most of her life and had caught glimpses of markets on the streets like these, but never had she gotten a better view.

While his partner was turning everywhere and seeing the sights, Percy appeared nonchalant and aloof. Even if he was of royal blood, like Annabeth, he constantly snuck out of the palace and was used to everything long ago.

Whenever a lecher tried to approach Annabeth and sell her something no doubt disturbing, Percy tugged her hand gently to lead her away before she could see. But not before giving the men a murderous glare.

Fascinated by the many goods sold by merchants, Annabeth occasionally pulled Percy along to look at something that interested her and would take time to ponder. Those stops gave Percy time to think of where Grover would meet them. Meanwhile, Shadow stood obediently watching over Annabeth. She growled at anyone who tried to approach when her owner was deep in thought and unaware that he was leaving his partner vulnerable and prone to attacks.

Percy thought back to the first time Grover had visited the village and returned super late.

…Flashback…

_The serpent's onyx eyes snapped open as the door to the secret tunnel to the village opened with a thunderous bang. Assuming it was an invader, Percy's instincts kicked in._

_He bounded to the pantry where the noise was and pounced on a moving shape in the dark. The shape let out a yelp as it crashed to the floor. Percy recognised that yelp as Grover's. Lighting a torch, the serpent raced to his friend's side to help him up._

_ Remembering his annoyance and anger at his friend, the serpent hissed. _Why are you so late? Where in Tartarus have you been?

_The reply he received was not one that he had ever expected. Grover's lips curled into a smile. It was the smile of a lovestruck guy. He bleated, "Perrcy. I'm in love! I met a girl named Juniper and we went to the café her mother owned. I think it was called Hestia's Hearth or something and she was so pretty…"_

_As Grover rambled on about how great the new girl was, Percy looked at him with a bored expression on his face. Finally after a whole ten minutes, everything Grover said sounded like it was coming from underwater._

_Fed up and hungry, Percy tried to control his growing temper and keep it in check. Finally, he cut Grover off by saying, _As long as you have not told her anything about the curse, it should be fine. Although you should not date her as we may leave and you might never see her again.

_With that, the serpent jumped out the window and landed in the moat with a plop. Grover was as pale as a sheet. Not because of the thought of leaving Juniper, however horrible that might be, but because he had told Juniper the whole story already._

_After being cooped up for so long with only Percy for company was enough to drive even his best friend mad, no matter how much Grover cared for Percy. Thankfully, he had told the story to only Juniper and he knew he could trust her, but Percy could never find out, or else he would be dead._

_Little did he know that Percy was using his telepathy and could hear everything Grover thought of._

...End Of Flashback…

Finally snapping out of his reverie as Annabeth started to pull him along to the next store, Percy halted mid-step. He turned to Annabeth and said, "Grover will meet us at Hestia's Hearth. I will try and ask for directions…"

As he was about the walk off, Annabeth tapped his back and smirked. "Isn't that the café across the street over there?" she asked innocently. Percy glared at her then turned to look. Sure enough, a quaint café decked in pale red and orange stood out greatly from the other shops on that street.

To cover up his embarrassment, the boy quickly marched off in that direction and effectively dragging Annabeth with him. Shadow and Annabeth exchanged a look, snickering inwardly.

Even though the café was open, there were no customers inside as it was already after dinner time. Annabeth walked into the café, pushing the door open. A blast of warm air rushed out, engulfing the trio. It greatly contrasted the freezing cold outside.

Seeing that Percy was shivering due to still being shirtless, Annabeth brought him over to the roaring fireplace and left him and Shadow there to warm up.

She then walked into the kitchen to look for any sign of Grover and she got it. But she also wished she could forget that particular scene burned into her mind for eternity. She squeaked and there was a lot of banging and a cry of "ANNABETH?!"

Annabeth bustled out of the kitchen and into Percy's embrace, her face resembling a cherry. Percy was baffled. He left Annabeth to Shadow and ignored Annabeth's shouts for him to stop and walked into the kitchen.

Mortified by the scene before him, he shielded his face and screamed. "Argh! Grover, dude, seriously? And you call me and Annabeth corrupted!"

…

After everything had calmed down and the introductions were made, Grover and Juniper walked out of the kitchen. Juniper refused to meet anyone's eyes whereas Grover stood there looking uncomfortable. Percy sighed and said, "Hey buddy. And this young lady here must be Junier. Nice to meet you. But do you guys have a plan? We need a place to stay, I'm shirtless and Annabeth's skirts are ripped."

"Umm… Yeah about that. You see, I got a little distracted when I was planning. So, yeah…" Grover murmured. Annabeth and Percy groaned. Trust Grover to be the rational one most of the time but when it comes down to it, he really was a pervert.

As the three started to debate and argue, Juniper quietly mulled over a plan of hers. Shadow just sat by their feet and let the humans do the thinking. It was their job after all.

Just then, Juniper said slowly, "I think I have a friend who can help us."

"Really? Who?" Annabeth inquired curiously.

"She is staying here for a few weeks which should be enough time for you guys to recover and stuff."

"I think she meant who, not what or why." Percy hesitantly said. Seaweed Brain will always be Seaweed Brain. Nevertheless, it got Juniper to answer the question.

"Katie Gardener, daughter of Demeter, the sole princess of the Kingdom of Gardens."

**END OF CHAPTER**


	12. Chapter 12: Tension

**[A/N] I don't own Percy Jackson, Rick Riordan does and please review! I'm aiming for 160 this time. No flames please. Hope you enjoy this chapter!**

Chapter 12

As the group of four, five including Shadow, made their way to Katie's house, the sun had set. They were currently walking around an area that was smack in the middle of the town.

The lamps on the streets cast an eerie glow on the ground, making it seem like a scene out of a horror movie.

Not to mention that there was no signs of life in the village, except for the occasional hoot of an owl or chirp of a cricket. There was something wrong and they knew it. They just had to figure out what. The tension in the air was so tense that a butter knife could not slice through it, making everyone jumpy and nervous.

"HOOT!" A sudden sound came from nearby, causing Percy to jump in fright. "Geez, Seaweed Brain! You are so jumpy today!" Annabeth chastised playfully, with an undertone of nervousness underneath.

She was just as nervous, if not more, than he was. "Well sorry! I just feel like we are being watched. And not just by a bunch of owls."

Annabeth thwacked Percy on the back of his head. "That was for insulting my favourite animal!" Grover and Juniper snickered hoarsely. Shadow stopped and sniffed the air. There was someone following them,and it was not a familiar smell.

The four friends turned to face the dog confusedly. But before they had time to say a word, there was a flash of something glinting in the air heading straight for Percy's heart! Eyes widening in horror, Annabeth leapt in front of Percy and took the blow for him.

The sound of an arrow piercing through flesh echoed throughout the street. Annabeth clutched her injured shoulder and fell to her knees, gasping for breath. As more blood trickled out of the wound, she grew paler and the boys formed a two-man barricade with Juniper tending to Annabeth in the middle.

The leaves of the trees rustled loudly, growing fainter and fainter. The attacker was getting away! Percy bared his teeth and clenched his fists until they turned a ghostly pale. The attacker was not getting away from him that easily.

However, as he was about to run off, Grover held him back. "Percy. Don't go after him or her or whatever! Point is that you have no weapons for offence of defense while that thing has a bow, arrows and who knows what else!"

"But-"

"No buts, dude. I know you are angry and you will get your revenge another day. In fact, I will happily join you." Gesturing to the wounded Annabeth, he continued, "For now, we have to get Annabeth to Katie's house for treatment. She's losing blood fast and if we don't do something soon, it will be too late."

Percy nodded in understanding and raced to Annabeth's side. Even though he was human, Percy still had his serpent senses and with those, he could make out a drop of purple liquid making its way down the shaft of the arrow. Poison!

Juniper looked at him gravely. "We cannot remove the arrow ourselves. We need a professional and if not, we could end up ramming the arrow further into her and make the poison move faster."

Nodding in acknowledgement, Percy gently picked Annabeth up bridal style, careful not to touch her injured shoulder and began jogging forward with Juniper leading the way and Grover watching their backs.

…

When they finally reached the Gardeners' summer home, they did not stare in awe at the magnificence of the house because they were either used to it or other grand places. Luckily this was so as every second ticking by could determine whether Annabeth would live or join the angels. Even though Percy sometimes thought of her as an angel that fell from Heaven, he had no desire to watch her join her kind anytime soon.

Juniper punched the doorbell rapidly until the door was answered. They could hear the shuffling and outraged moans and groans of who could possibly be calling in at this time of night.

Luckily for them, it was Katie who answered and not her parents. As Katie looked at the four teenagers and dog gathered on her porch, she rubbed her eyes in disbelief and assumed she was still dreaming. "Whoa, I had way too much cereal for supper."

Fortunately, it was Juniper who snapped her out of her trance. Snapping her fingers in front of Katie's face she hollered, "Wake up, Gardener! This is not a dream! My friend was just shot with a poisonous arrow and she's going to die unless you help. So, help!"

Realising that she was awake and she was facing reality, Katie's mouth was set into a firm line as she screamed for her mother to get the infirmary ready. Gesturing for them to enter the house she said, "Get her into the infirmary stat so that my mother can treat her. Down the hall, take a right, then a left and then the second door on your right. The rest of you can warm up by the fireplace in the living room."

Percy raced into the house before Katie finished speaking, right after she had told him where the infirmary was. As the others trudged into the living room gratefully, Katie smirked and added, "Oh, and Juniper? You so owe me one."

Rolling her eyes, Juniper stormed into the living room, ready for a good night's sleep. Although she doubted any of them would get any.

…

Two days passed. Annabeth had come out of critical condition but the others were worried sick. Percy refused to leave her side except for a trip to the bathroom twice a day. He even refused to eat or sleep, afraid that Annabeth would wake up while he was asleep. He sat in a wooden chair next to her bed and watched over her like a hawk.

The situation had been explained to the Gardeners, courtesy of Juniper who effectively left out the parts about the curse and stuff. They immediately obliged to let them stay as long as they needed.

It was in the afternoon on the third day when Annabeth finally awoke. As her eyes fluttered open, she was greeted by the sight of Percy finally giving in to sleep, her hand clutched in his.

She chuckled lightly. Looking out the window, she frowned when she saw that it was already late in the afternoon. Just how long had she been asleep? Percy started to snore softly and Annabeth giggled. Seaweed Brain was so cute.

Brushing his messy black bangs out of the way, she leaned down and gave Percy a peck on his forehead. She wished he felt the same way about her as she did about him.

The doors burst open at that moment and Juniper strolled in carrying a tray of food for Percy. Said person was rudely awoken by the loud noise and sat up in the blink of an eye. His position with Annabeth who was still hunched over caused his lips to bump into something soft and pleasant to the touch.

He was kissing Annabeth.

Both their eyes widened in shock, ocean green meeting a startling grey. They closed their eyes in bliss and Percy cupped her face with his hands and she wrapped her arms around his neck. It was as if all the tension in their relationship came bursting out in that one kiss.

He liked it, a lot. Perhaps more than he should have and vice versa. But they would not have it any other way.

Perhaps that phrase "Good things take time, but really great things happened in the blink of an eye" really did apply here. Developing their relationship was good, but that kiss was a really great thing for them.

However, all good things must come to an end. Before things could get more heated, Juniper cleared her throat awkwardly. "Umm… Annabeth? It's great to see you awake and all but I think that this counts as too strenuous for a person recovering from a poisonous arrow right?"

Having realised that Annabeth was still recovering, Percy reluctantly broke away, panting heavily. Annabeth let out a whimper and shot a glare at Juniper. The glare sent shivers down Juniper's spine. Annabeth could look downright threatening when she was angered.

Although it serves her right for interrupting the first, though accidental, kiss of possibly the greatest couple of all time.

As Juniper hastened to get out of the room, that very same room was engulfed in a thick, awkward silence. After a few tense minutes, Percy could take it no longer.

He stood up and muttered, "I'd best get going. See you later." With that, he gave a small wave and strode out the door.

"Percy, wait!" But he was already gone. Annabeth flopped back onto the bed and groaned. What had she done to deserve this crappy luck when it comes to love?

First, her old crush and childhood friend had tried to attack her current crush. Then, she had suffered nearly a year of tension living in the same place as her current crush and finally when they had their first kiss, it was completely accidental and was soon after interrupted! She could not even confirm he was feeling the same way with her! (Although he obviously was but poor, insecure Annabeth could not pick up the hints!)

And last but not least, when they had the chance to sort the whole things out, he left without meeting her eyes!

The gods must really hate me. Or at least the goddess of love anyway, were the last few thoughts before she drifted off into a disturbed sleep.

**END OF CHAPTER**


	13. Chapter 13: Old Friends

**[A/N] I don't own Percy Jackson, Rick Riordan does. Ohmgee. I have not been able to update for so long! Heartfelt apologies to my dear readers. The internet in my house was down. And as an apology, I will be writing again later tonight for another chapter of Opposites Attract so keep a look out! Hope you enjoy this chapter!**

Chapter 13

Hours had passed and Annabeth was up and walking about the house after introducing herself to the Gardeners. However, much to her displeasure, Percy was still avoiding her.

Every time she caught sight of him and called out his name, he would quickly rush away. She found it a miracle he had not turned back into a serpent in front of the Gardeners. She assumed it was because he kept holding her hand or otherwise keeping Juniper close by.

Both said girl and Katie were fast forming firm friendships with Annabeth and vice versa. Meanwhile, Grover was keeping up surveillance on her like he usually would on his favourite enchiladas.

Except when she went to the bathroom to do her business, she would never have a moment of peace from him. When she asked him if Percy had put him up to this, he replied nervously, "Wha? Psh, noo…" He was a really bad liar. Either that or Juniper trained him really well. This just served for Annabeth to work twice as hard at tracking the prince of Atlantis.

Everyone except the two was watching in anticipation of what would happen next, even Demeter and her husband. They could all feel the tension constantly building up in the air.

It was the next morning when the others decided to take action and help mend the rift between the princess and the serpent.

They had formed a plan in the dead of the night, careful not to disturb the two subjects. Juniper and Grover would accompany the two and the four teenagers will make a trip to the market to "pick up ingredients for dinner" although they did not really need too as being royalty, the Gardeners had servants to do that for them.

They were taking a big risk as strenuous exercise might cause the wound on Annabeth's shoulder to open up again. Nevertheless, they were willing to go through with the plan as watching Annabeth attempting to talk to Percy was really painful.

If Thalia were there, Percy would already have ended up being served in the town's local seafood joint as a massive fish fillet.

Thus, the plan commenced at breakfast. Smiling deviously at her four guests, Demeter handed Annabeth the list and pushed them all out the door before they could finish their meal. Annabeth and Percy looked at each other awkwardly then meeting each other's eyes, they looked at their feet, their faces rapidly reddening.

Whereas on the other hand, Grover was groveling about not being able to finish his food and how such delicious enchiladas would go to waste with Juniper thwacking him upside the head continuously.

Breaking the awkward silence, Percy quickly took Annabeth's hand in his and dragged her in the direction of the market and leaving the quarrelling couple in the dust. Both parts of which did not even notice their disappearing act.

Quietly, Annabeth let herself be pulled along, just glad to be in his presence without him trying to run from her. After about fifteen minutes of walking, Annabeth quietly asked, "You have been avoiding me the past few days and now you are dragging me somewhere. All I want to ask is, why?"

His muttered reply was enough to shatter her heart in one blow. "Because I can't exactly have myself transforming into a serpent in public, can I?" Breaking away from him with a sob, Annabeth sprinted in a random direction with no intention except to get away from the serpent.

Realising the gravity of what he had done, Percy quickly chased after her. Annabeth crashed through crates, stalls and their infuriated owners. She paid no attention to them whatsoever. "How could he? I thought he felt the same way about me as I did to him. But then again, that kiss was completely accidental and he avoided me afterwards…"

She let out a cry of anguish and halted. The sound of someone with a broken heart.

She was so distracted that she did not hear the sound of Percy's footsteps hitting the ground with a slap as he neared her or the cries of the royal guard of Greece.

All of a sudden, she was pulled into a dark alleyway by Percy. Hiding behind the repulsive bin of one of the stores, he covered her mouth, muffling her cries. When she tried to resist him, he pointed outside and willed her to listen. Picking up his idea, she quietly listened to the commotion on the streets.

The sound of the hooves of horses thudding on the pavement and the trumpeting of a horn resonated throughout the area, causing everyone and everything in the vicinity to come to a standstill. It was the sound of a search party of royal guards. Not just any guards, the ones from Greece.

The head of this search party, Beckendorf, who was also Luke's trainer and a dear friend to Annabeth called out, "Search for the princess! Look for a teenage girl of sixteen with blonde hair and grey eyes! Should a satyr, or a brown haired boy of similar age be found with her, kill them on sight! The princess must be brought back at all costs so leave no stone unturned!

Annabeth's eyes widened and her pupils dilated in shock. Her father had ordered for her two friends to be killed? How could he? Percy felt Annabeth trembling in anger and tried to calm her down and decided to communicate with her telepathically.

_Annabeth, calm down._

_Oh you have no right to tell me that, mister. After all, you have been the one agitating me the past two days!_ Percy winced audibly.

_I know and I am really sorry. I just felt uncomfortable kissing the girl I like accidentally and not on my own will._ Annabeth thought that she could never be surprised anymore. Not after that day.

_So you don't want to kiss me?_

_NO! I mean yes, I want to. Wait, I mean… Argh. _Annabeth giggled with mirth as Percy stuttered furiously.

_It's ok. I get it. I like you, Percy. I really do._ Percy's eyes widened and he smiled.

_Really? Cause I like you too._

Strange how a year's worth of liking each other could be solved in a conversation that took less than five minutes. A conversation taken place behind a rubbish bin in a dinky old and stinky alley no less.

Alas, the universe really did have it in for those two as at that moment, Beckendorf himself walked into the alley. His eyes widened at the sight of Annabeth willingly about to kiss a boy. He saw the way the boy looked at her and the way she looked at him in turn. They were really in love and he did not want to ruin it. Not one bit.

He hissed just before their lips met, "Princess! Now is not the time for that!"

Annabeth yelped and exclaimed loudly as she and Percy hastily broke apart, "BECKENDORF?" This was loud enough for the other searchers to hear. As they scrambled to find the source of the noise, Beckendorf let out a string of expletives. They were really in for it now.

Percy hugged Annabeth tightly to him, not wanting to let her go just after they had sorted out their problems.

Beckendorf surveyed the alley in hopes of finding something useful. Fortunately for them, he found it. It was a door to a shop pink in colour and no more than Annabeth's height. However, it was on the second level.

Percy caught onto his plan surprisingly quickly for a Seaweed Brain and hoisted Annabeth onto his shoulders. He brought her in front of the door and lifted her in. Annabeth tried to protest and insisted that he go with her.

"Annabeth, go and get in there! You are my first and foremost priority and you need to get out of here!"

"But, Percy! If they catch you, they will kill you without hesitating."

Flashing her his special smile, he said with adoration in his eyes, "I'll be fine. I am right behind you."

Reassured, Annabeth climbed into the door.

Tumbling inside headfirst, she lay sprawled onto the carpet to the shock of three paired of eyes. A redhead and a pair twins chatting idly by the fire. The girl was in a marvelous dress, signaling that she was royalty. The two boys were donned in armor, a telltale sign that they were her appointed guards, their weapons laying at their feet.

The guards sprang into action as fast as lightning. One moved in front of the redhead and the other sprang forward to point his spear at Annabeth's throat. "State your business!"

Letting out a gasp, Annabeth struggled to find a reasonable explanation to explain her situation. She could not very well say she was a princess running from her country's guards dispatched by her father to bring her back and kill her serpent of a boyfriend could she?

As fate would have it, said boyfriend came tumbling through the door and knocking the guard down. He got up and slammed the door shut just as the guards entered the alley. During this time, the other guard had moved forward to press his sword to Percy's throat. The cold, sharp kiss of the glinting blade sent shivers down Percy's spine.

That was when the girl looked at Percy's face. Her eyes widened in bewilderment. Abruptly, she stood up, sending the tea tray previously on her lap clattering to the floor. Stepping over the pieces of ruined china, she walked in front of Percy.

Pulling the guard's sword away slowly, she stroked Percy's face and asked, "Percy? Is that really you?" Recognition dawned upon him.

"Rachel?!"

**END OF CHAPTER**


	14. Chapter 14: Rachel and The Stolls

**[A/N] I don't own Percy Jackson, Rick Riordan does. Please review! I'm aiming for 190 next! Please help me reach my target! Oh, and I wrote another story called The Proposal. Check it out if you want to! Hope you enjoy this chapter.**

_Previously in the last chapter:_

_That was when the girl looked at Percy's face. Her eyes widened in bewilderment. Abruptly, she stood up, sending the tea tray previously on her lap clattering to the floor. Stepping over the pieces of ruined china, she walked in front of Percy._

_Pulling the guard's sword away slowly, she stroked Percy's face and asked, "Percy? Is that really you?" Recognition dawned upon him._

_"Rachel?!"_

Chapter 14

Annabeth could feel the jealousy welling up in every vein in her body. Who the hell was this girl and who was she to stroke Percy's face like that? Only she could do that! Beckendorf just had to interrupt them did he not.

Annabeth tried to quell the raging inferno inside of her as she watched her lover and Rachel stare at each other for a long time. She turned to look at the twin guards. One of them was staring nonchalantly into space. But…

The other one had a pissed expression on his face. His fists were clenched and he was clearly gritting his teeth. Someone was jealous.

Finally, Annabeth lost it. She tapped Percy's arm and said, "Hey, Seaweed Brain. We should get going. The guards may be searching the houses now." Percy nodded absentmindedly.

Suddenly, he realised that if Rachel or her guards were to reveal his identity to Annabeth, what would happen to their relationship? Hastily recovering, he quickly said, "Annabeth, Rachel my childhood friend. Rachel, Annabeth, my girlfriend. Now, sorry for the interruption, but we should get going now."

Annabeth felt a warm happy glow when he called her his girlfriend and smiled. Not only that, he was the one wanting to get away from Rachel. The way she looked at Percy was not one would usually use for just a childhood friend. Luckily, Percy's expression only contained bewilderment and anxiety.

For what, she did not know. But for the time being, she was content.

Much to her displeasure, a few seconds before they were out the door, Rachel grabbed on to Percy's other arm. Her eyes were wide like saucers and pain evident in her expression. "Percy, don't go! I have not seen you in two years! Where have you been, you imbecile! Do you know how much your parents miss you? Your father is going to wage war on Greece!"

What? Wage war on Greece! Her home, her kingdom and her birthplace? She wrenched her hand out of Percy's, even if she missed the comforting warmth.

But the only country pending war is… Atlantis? Does that mean Percy's father was the King. That meant, Percy was the missing son?!

"Percy, is there something you have not told me?" Annabeth said slowly, wishing that for once in her life, she was completely wrong. However, everything made sense. Mrs O' Leary recognised as his dog would bring trouble. He used to play in the palace gardens and often visited the palace. And he even knew Rachel who was obviously of royal standing.

Percy flinched once more and this time, Annabeth noticed. So everything was true. "This cannot be happening! I thought we told each other everything! How could you?"

With that, she took to her heel and made a dash for the stairs, only to be blocked by Percy himself. It was just at that moment when there was the familiar "pop". And like always, there was a green serpent in Percy's place, the clothes he was previously wearing scattered across the floor.

Rachel let out an ear-piercing shriek as both her guards immediately raised their weapons. There was a bout of noise from the alley as the royal guards tried to find the source of the noise.

Even though she was very upset with Percy, Annabeth knew the gravity of the situation they were in. Without hesitation, she placed Percy's clothes on his back like a makeshift saddle and mounted herself on his back.

**[A/N] In response to a previous review. The changing of Percy's size as a serpent is somewhat unstable so when he is really big or small, his body is too big for his legs. His natural size is that of a tiger so that is the only size at which he can actually run or walk…**

It dawned upon Percy that if he left his explanations the way they were with Rachel, war would be unleashed immediately. Thus, he determined to meet them at the Gardeners' house tomorrow.

_Meet us at 24 Sunflower Street if you want your explanations. And whatever you do, do not say anything about knowing us to the guards._

Rachel had no choice but to agree as Percy bounded down the stairs with Annabeth on his back. "Connor, you can let go of me now." Rachel mumbled. Connor Stoll looked down and saw that he was still clutching Rachel's shoulders protectively while his twin, Travis snickered.

His face burning, Connor bent down to pick up the broken pieces of china to shield his reddening face.

"Milady, are you really going to go to that address tomorrow?" Travis hesitantly asked,

Rachel sighed. "It's not like I have much choice, do I? And I keep telling you to call me Rachel. Your brother has no problem adjusting to it."

The twins exchanged a glance as Travis burst into a fit of laughter and Connor stuttered furiously. Rachel giggled. She wished that every moment could be spent like this. Just the three of them together with the addition of Percy. She sighed dreamily. Her long-time crush. Her heart grew heavier as she thought about the fact that he had a girlfriend and underneath all that dirt, she was really pretty.

At that moment, the very door that Percy and Annabeth had burst through was bust open once again. A squadron of guards commanded, "Put your hands up in the air. Have you seen anyone come this way?"

Rachel cursed under her breath. Percy just had to be a walking tornado of trouble didn't he?

…With the couple…

The serpent burst through the door on the ground floor with Annabeth clinging tightly onto his back. Heads turned to look but they were greeted by a green blur racing away. "Get them!"

Nearly every guard set off in pursuit but none were a match for the serpent's speed, even on horses. Dodging crates, stalls and people, Percy really had his job cut out for him.

He sometimes wondered why he went through so much trouble for that single girl. He had certainly never done so for any other except for his mother. Not even Rachel. This time, he had found the answer.

He did not like her. He loved her with every fibre of his body. Should he die saving her, so be it.

All that mattered was Annabeth's happiness. Putting on another burst of speed, he ran through the streets like a bullet. They were slowly losing the guards bit by bit.

However, when he had got onto Sunflower Street, he could still see the guards and vice versa. He knew he could not put the Gardeners in jeopardy after they had done so much for them.

He made a sharp turn to the right and crashed through the undergrowth, heading into the forest. He stopped and whipped around, crouching low enough for the bushes to hide him and Annabeth and sat down. He placed his tail over Annabeth's mouth, making them as inconspicuous as possible.

He shifted around to help get both Annabeth and himself comfortable. It was going to be a while until the guards would pass. If they ever would.

**END OF CHAPTER**


	15. Chapter 15: Arguments

**[A/N] I don't own Percy Jackson, Rick Riordan does. I'm currently at home and bored out of my mind so I've decided to host a competition.**

**It will end at the end of November. I want you guys to guess my age. It will be guessed in years and months. Also include your option choice please. E.g 17 years and 7 months**

**The winner will get to choose which story plot I will do after I finish this story. Everyone else can also choose as I will be doing two out of the four (new one added at bottom!). And also, those who already know me cannot participate because that would be cheating. :P Also please log in when you give your answer so that I can PM you if you win. Good luck! And the options will be at the bottom!**

**Hope you guys enjoy the chapter.**

Chapter 15

The sun had started to set when the guards finally gave up and went to search the other areas in town. Both Percy and Annabeth were soaked to the skin with sweat from waiting in the dense undergrowth for more than half a day. They were lucky that the guards still had many more villages and towns to search, otherwise they would have had to stay hidden from sight in the uncomfortable brambles.

Percy nudged Annabeth with a fin and with the familiar loud "pop", the human Percy was once again in the serpent's place. He scrambled to get his clothes to shield himself from Annabeth, but there was no need to hurry.

Annabeth was steaming mad and too absorbed in her thinking session to notice. Percy nudged her hand gently with his. Upon the contact, Annabeth snapped out of her reverie. With a huff, she stormed into the house without a moment's hesitation, leaving a stunned Percy in her wake.

Slamming the door open with a loud bang in her rage, Annabeth was greeted by the swivelling of heads of five humans and a dog. With a joyful bark, Shadow raced past Annabeth and leaped into her awaiting master's arms while the other five let out sighs and cries of relief. "Where in Tartarus have you idiots been? Do you know how scared Grover and I were when we saw the Greek guards pursuing you two in the street around the corner?

"We were out of our minds when we saw them surrounding Sunflower street! And before we entered, we had to be interrogated for a full hour and when Grover heard he matched the descriptions for the satyr to be executed, he nearly crapped his pants!" Juniper hollered vehemently, her face burning red from the effort.

"I am terribly sorry Ms Green, but I am afraid I have to interrupt your ranting as in this household, we do not appreciate such crude language." Demeter smoothly intervened. Juniper stuttered, then quietened and eventually seated herself next to Grover on the couch.

She continued, "But nonetheless, I am very interested to hear about where you have been today, Princess Annabeth Chase of Greece."

Annabeth cursed. They had been found out. Before Demeter could further press on the matter, Percy put Shadow down on the floor and muttered, "Grover? Can I speak to you privately, please?"

Grover had a confused expression adorned on his face, but still followed Percy. An awkward silence engulfed the room as they waited for the two to finish their conversation. Tension and nervousness was apparent in the air as the Gardeners stared at the two ladies. One of which was deep in thought and the other was occupying herself with playing tug-of-war with Shadow who had scampered to her side. You could easily guess who was who.

On the inside, Annabeth was in turmoil. She wanted to get away from there as fast as possible but what excuse could she possibly use in this situation? Finally, she settled on the lamest and most common excuse in all of history throughout the kingdoms used to get out of awkward situations. "Toilet." she muttered, before setting a brief pace towards the toilet.

Her departure was accompanied by the sound of Grover yelling, "WHAT!" from the other room that echoed throughout the household.

Since the toilet excuse was obviously false, Annabeth had nothing better to do than to stand in front of the mirror and observe her appearance. It was not even close to what it should have been as her role as a princess. Stray leaves and twigs were clinging to her hair like flies to a spider's web and her dress was torn and tattered. Dirt, mud and grime was splattered all over her skin and multiple lacerations were present on her arms and legs.

Luke's words rand in her ears. _"Now she is just another peasant girl on the street!" "The old Annabeth was prettier!"_

Thinking about those bad memories along with reminiscing about the events of the past few days was already enough to set Annabeth off. Letting out a soft sob, she began to get to work on washing up.

…

"What do you mean Rachel and the Stolls were there? They are supposed to be Atlantis getting ready for the war! What the heck are they doing here?"

"How should I know? Grover, they are coming over tomorrow to explain everything to us so calm down."

"But what if they recognise Annabeth as the Princess of Greece? Half the royal guard of Greece are going to be patrolling the street twenty four seven for the next few days! One scream will be all it takes for you and me to be executed and Annabeth to be brought back to the castle. She hates it there and you care for her happiness way more than your life! The only problem in this equation is that my life is at stake here too!"

"I know and I do. But we just have to trust them on this. And also, we have a bigger problem at hand. I think Annabeth found out about my identity."

"Dude, you are in soo much trouble."

"I'm gonna check on Annabeth now. Besides, you knew everything too and didn't tell her."

"But I'm not her boyfriend. You are."

"Shaddup Grove."

Percy walked back into the room with Grover trailing behind chuckling bemusedly. Looking around the room, he noticed that a certain blonde was missing. "Where's Annabeth?"

Katie pointed to the nearest restroom and Percy picked up on her signal immediately. He sauntered towards the bathroom and called, "You explain what happened, Grover."

Grover's contented expression disappeared in a flash. His eyes widened as he bleated, "Hey! Why me?" Turning back to face his impatient girlfriend and the sceptical Gardeners, he gulped. This was one of his most common jobs as Percy's personal attendant and after all these years, he still had trouble getting used to it.

…

Percy rapped on the locked door a few times with his knuckle. "Annabeth? Are you in there?" His only reply was a soft sniffle. Percy started to grow worried. On the other side of the door, Annabeth could hear Percy shuffling around the room. What could he possibly be looking for at a time like this?

Once again, Percy called out, "If I do not get a reply from you in the next three seconds, I am going to bust this door down with a neat spear which I found hanging from the wall." Annabeth stayed silent, thinking he would not have the guts.

"3…"

Annabeth frowned. He wouldn't dare.

"2…"

Annabeth started to feel panicked. Was he really serious?

"1!"

Annabeth heard the swishing of something heavy slicing through the air. Hurriedly, she screamed for him to stop. A millisecond before the spear hit the door, Percy yanked it backwards and let go.

The spear clattered to the floor with a resounding thud. "So are you going to come out now?"

"…"

"Annabeth…"

"Why didn't you tell me? I thought we were best friends that told each other everything. And Grover obviously knew. I hate it when people keep me out of the loop." She spat, hurt radiating from every word.

Percy winced. He had really hurt her bad. And he knew it.

"Annabeth, I am going to tell you the whole story. Whether you listen or not is your choice. I'll tell you my reasons at the end of the story. Ok?"

Taking Annabeth's silence as a signal to continue on, he began his story.

The story of Perseus Jackson, second son to Poseidon and Sally Jackson, second prince of the kingdom of Atlantis.

**END OF CHAPTER**

**[A/N] Here are the options: (No copyrighting please!)**

**1) The Demigod Games**

**Summary: When all the demigods from the Greek and Roman camps are forced into participating in the Olympics, it will be a great show for gods and monsters alike. Everything would usually be fine, but the problem is that the games are far from normal…**

**2) Half-blood Agency**

**Summary: There are many kinds of agencies but the most interesting to work in by far is a spy agency. Annabeth Chase: seasoned veteran gets paired up with Percy Jackson: a total newbie for one of the most important missions of all time. Will everything turn out alright? Or will this be the end of the world as we know it.**

**3) One Month**

**Summary: Annabeth Chase: one of the world's most famous assassins. Her target: Percy Jackson, son of the famous corp owner, Poseidon Jackson. She had one month to live with him and kill him. But for some reason, whenever she had the chance, she could not bring herself to finish him off.**

**4) Half-blood Hospital**

**Summary: Annabeth Chase has astounding grades so it is no surprise to anyone when she gets offered a part-time job at Half-blood Hospital. However, everything is not as simple as it seems when she gets a stubborn patient who reacts to nothing and no one. The one and only Percy Jackson.**


	16. Chapter 16: Percy's Life Story

**[A/N] I don't own Percy Jackson, Rick Riordan does. Hey guys! Hope you enjoy this chapter and if you want to find out more about a contest, please read the Author Notes from the previous chapter.**

**The results so far are:**

**The Demigod Games: 1**

**Half-blood Agency: 5**

**One Month: 8**

Chapter 16

Percy started, "So as you have already found out, I am the second-in-line for the throne in Atlantis. The person before me is my half-brother, Triton Jackson.

"When my mother met my father in the capital city on a business trip, he was due for an arranged marrige to Amphitrite, Triton's mother. However, he had fallen in love with my mother and didn't tell her. She found out about it after I was born and my father left her."

Annabeth could hear Percy taking deep breaths, understanding that it must be difficult for him to talk about his parents' separation. She murmured, "You don't have to continue if you don't want to…"

"It's ok. I promised I would tell you everything and I keep my promises.

"My grandparents soon died after I was born and left their fortune to my mother's brother who ran away once he had obtained the money. To support me, she then started up her own restaurant even though she was clearly suffering on the inside. Back then, the building was in a really bad shape. The paint was peeling off the walls, tiles were chipped and that was not even our biggest problem.

"But I am really proud of my mother. The restaurant is now a three Michelin star restaurant and is famous for it's confectionary. Anyway, my father is one of the people who tests out the restaurant's food if they are worthy of the stars.

"When I was about five years old, the restaurant's business improved drastically after a food critic came and gave us outstanding reviews. My father saw the article and decided to visit. He immediately recognised my mother even though she tried to hide from him, in fear of him discovering me.

"Ever since I was born, I have had ADHD and Dyslexia and I am unable to stay still for long which is required for sitting through long conversations. Also, if the public found out that the King had had an affair, everything would go to shambles.

"My father immediately brought us back to the palace and told everything to Amphitrite. In a rage, she fled the palace and left Triton to my father. My father wanted to tell the public the truth but the officials advised him not to and claimed they divorced and the King had to have a new Queen which is where my mother came in.

"Soon after, we moved into the palace. My mother wanted to continue running her restaurant much to the protests of the officials. However, my father supported her whole-heartedly and she was fortunately able to pursue her dreams.

"However, everyone else strongly disapproved of us. Especially Triton. He has always hated my guts. When I die, he will most likely dance on my grave. The others were not too far behind.

"It always seemed to me that my mother and I never fit in the puzzle. Except for Grover, she was the only one who truly understood me. Not even Rachel. She was always away on trips or busy with meetings so I found other ways to relieve my boredom. Pranks.

"My first ever prank was on the daughter of a travelling merchant. That was how I met Rachel. Needless to say, it was an epic fail and Rachel decided to accompany Grover and me whenever she was in town.

"When we were thirteen, our parents arranged an arranged marriage for us."

Annabeth felt jealousy and anger welling up inside of her once again. She grit her teeth, clenched her fist and closed her eyes, trying to hold back the rampaging monster in the pit of her stomach.

"Well, I don't know about Rachel, but I only liked her as my sister and a good friend."

The monster inside Annabeth whooped and punched it's fist in the sir ecstatically.

"Anyway, the only one either than me who objected was my mother but she was vastly outnumbered and had to give up on the idea. Even my father approved of it.

"However, I refused to give up. I decided to sick Mrs O' Leary on one of the officials. He was really a piece of nasty work. Just imagine your angry father and multiply it by a thousand. The equivalent is not even half.

"We were soon found out by the chambermaid and we were running from the palace guards when we met the witch of kingdoms and I think you know everything else that happened from there on."

"Percy, you still haven't told me why you didn't tell me."

"I thought you would be mad cause I'm the missing prince and technically, my disappearance was the whole reason your kingdom is potentially at risk of a huge war and that you were exiled to the tower."

"You did not choose to disappear and I think that I practically exiled myself after talking back to my father like that."

"But I could have gone to the village to announce my presence right?"

"I feel like I'm the one defending you against yourself. But you only discovered that you could change back last year and even then, it was still risky if you changed back."

"But still…"

"I feel like I have had this conversation with you before." With that, the couple burst into laughter. Wiping the crystals of laughter from his eyes, Percy said, "So are we good?"

His reply was the opening of the bathroom door. Annabeth walked out hurriedly and swung her arms around Percy's neck. She pulled his face down and pecked him on the lips. "Was that a good enough answer for you?"

"Well, I don't think the answer was very clear. Could you repeat yourself? Preferably a few times." Percy smirked, capturing Annabeth's lips with his.

The fates must really have it out for them as they were once again, interrupted before they could really get into things. Although, considering their current situation, maybe the fates had taken pity on them and helped.

However, to the two, it was a blessing in a really good disguise because they could not even see it.

They were interrupted by Katie as she went to check up on them. She was shell-shocked to see that a prized spear was on the ground and had made a hole in the carpet and Annabeth and Percy locking lips. Shielding her eyes, she made her way to the side of the spear and lifted it up and put it back on its hooks. Meanwhile, Annabeth noticed and broke away from Percy. It seems like their roles were reversed again.

Percy pouted, giving Annabeth the puppy-dog eyes that she could not resist. Annabeth groaned. He always knew how to push her buttons. Katie saw that they had noticed her and quickly slipped away.

After she had left, the two decided to loiter in the hallway and played twenty questions much to Katie's amusement as she could still hear them. She could hear the change in their pace as they were so tired. Katie frowned. They would never last her mother's interrogation at that rate.

When she went back to the living room, Demeter questioned her. "Daughter, did I not tell you to bring those two back here? Your father and I have many questions for them." "Well, I think they had enough for one day. Can we leave this for the morning? After all, the guests are only arriving in the afternoon." Katie replied.

Demeter sniffed. "Fine. Everyone dismissed. Return to your rooms and this will be discussed during breakfast promptly at seven o' clock. Should you be late, you will face the consequences." And on that chilling note, Demeter gallantly swept out of the room and everyone headed to their own rooms.

The hallway that Annabeth and Percy had been in was silent as they had been listening in on the conversation. Percy said, "It seems like they have forgotten to give you a room so where are you going to sleep tonight."

Annabeth shrugged. "I'll probably share with Juniper."

Annabeth then started to head for Juniper's room but backtracked as she realised that she had no idea where Juniper's room was or if she was even sharing with Katie. Hanging her head, Annabeth turned to face Percy.

With a chuckle, Percy led her by the elbow to Juniper's personal room.

**END OF CHAPTER**


	17. Chapter 17: Demeter Taking Sides

**[A/N] Hey guys! Soo sorry I haven't updated for so long but I just graduated and there were so many tears… Anyway, I was not in the mood to write and I did not want to give you guys a crappy chapter just because I was feeling down.**

**I forgot to mention that you guys can vote as many times as you want as long as it is not for the same story (refer to chapter 15). The competition is still on and to my dear friend, livingthelife37, no you cannot enter cause you are one of my best friends in real life. I will be adding another story option and I will update that chapter for the fourth option. It will be called Half-blood Hospital. Check it out and vote please!**

**Btw hope you guys enjoy this chapter and I am aiming or 245 reviews this time! Everyone please help!**

Chapter 17

_A voice called her name in the distance. Everything suddenly sharpened as if being in high definition. All around her, war was raging. The ground was stained a bloody red by the bodies of fallen warriors. All around her, chaos reigned. Warriors sporting green and blue clashed against those adorned with silver and gold._

_Then, a black shape was barrelling towards her. Once again, she heard her name being in called. And to her horror, a soilder burst out of the undergrowth, skewering the black shape. For some unknown reason, she felt her heart wrenching in unbearable pain as she tried to scream, but she was paralysed._

_The soilder whipped around. He pulled his sword out of the shape and advanced towards her, grinning maniacally. She tried to run but her feet refused to move. And as the man raised his sword…_

"Wake up, Wise Girl!" Percy hollered. Annabeth woke up with a start. She sat up hurriedly and just like last time, bumped into Percy. This time, they were not so lucky as to kiss. Instead, they bumped foreheads. Annabeth fell back onto her back with a plop as Percy staggered backwards, clutching his forehead and groaning in pain.

Annabeth was breathing heavily as she sat up to look at Percy. Rubbing her forehead to get rid of the stinging pain, she groggily opened her eyes. Combined with the nightmare, it was not a very pleasant way to wake up.

Once recovering from the pain, Percy looked at Annabeth worriedly. "Are you alright? You were tossing and turning. At one point, you even screamed!" Annabeth replied tiredly, "I'm ok, Seaweed Brain. Just a nightmare."

Even though he was unconvinced Percy let it slide. "He said, "Well, if you are sure you are alright, you should get up now. It's ten minutes to seven and Demeter wants us at breakfast pronto." He gallantly gestured towards the door in a mock salute. Annabeth rolled her eyes. Seaweed Brain was back and better than ever. Grabbing a set of clothes from the dresser, Annabeth made her way to the bathroom down the hall.

Hearing footsteps thudding on the carpet, Annabeth whipped around, only to see Percy following her. Putting a hand on her hip, Annabeth said, "Percy, the dining room is that way. Why are you following me?"

Percy shrugged. "I can spare a few minutes and I have nothing else to do. Besides, I do not quite feel like being stuck in the same room as Demeter."

"Then wait outside."

"But I want to go in and wait for you."

"Well, if you go in with me, how am I going to change?"

"I wouldn't mind~" Percy said with a smirk.

Annabeth scoffed. Whacking him on the arm, she muttered, "pervert…" and walked into the bathroom, slamming the door in Percy's face. Chuckling heartily, Percy sat down beside the door to wait for Annabeth, thinking about the meeting with Rachel and the Stolls later in the afternoon.

Even if he was quite dense, Percy could see the tension between the two. He knew that Rachel still had a crush on him judging by the way she had acted and was jealous of Annabeth. Meanwhile, Annabeth was being her overprotective self.

Sighing, Percy leaned against the wall and patiently waited for his lover to finish.

…

When the couple walked into the kitchen and sat down, the clock struck seven. Everyone else had already arrived before and the two were just in time to avoid facing Demeter's wrath. Percy breathed a sigh of relief while Annabeth kept a cool and unfazed façade.

The kitchen was just as magnificent as the rest of the house. The cooking untensils were a standard silver, gleaming the the light. It had a long, dark shiny mahogany table in the middle with intricate flower designs on the edges and down the legs. To top it all off, there was a golden chandelier with crystals hanging off every edge. It easily caught anyone's eye the second they walked into the room.

"Glad to see you both made it in time. Now, let us begin." Demeter huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. "We can do this two ways. You four can either tell us the full story in one go, or I can interrogate you as much as I want without restraint."

Grover and Juniper decided to let Percy and Annabeth decide since this was mainly concerning them. Said two were using Percy's telepathy to have a silent but heated debate.

_I think we should choose option 2, Seaweed Brain._

_What? No way! She is eventually get it all out from us anyway so might as well save time and energy right?_

_Argh. You are really so lazy sometimes! But if we go with option 2, we can hide a little bit from her._

_Like what? What do we have to hide now, Wise Girl?_

_Percy, in case you have forgotten, you are still a serpent and explaining the exiling would be much tougher, would it not?_

_But she might pick up something up from all the obvious holes in the story._

_We have to take this risk. Should my memory serve me well, the Kingdom of Gardens was quite well acquainted with Greece so she might take this to my parents!_

_If we explain, I believe she would not stop us, right?_

Annabeth sighed. Seaweed Brain was just so naïve sometimes. No one could be trusted when we were at the brink of war except few.

"I am terribly sorry to interrupt, but are you two done deciding yet? If so, what is your choice?" Demeter said icily.

Annabeth said "Option 2" as Percy said "Option 1" at the same moment. They exchanged a heated glare and it escalated into a staring contest. Neither were willing to back down even though Percy secretly knew Annabeth was right on the inside. However, he could never back down. His pride would not take it sitting down.

Luckily for him, Demeter chose for them. "Fine. Be that way. Option 2 it is. But be warned, this was your choice alone…" The tone of her voice sent chills down everyone else's spines in the room. Even Mr Gardener was affected, albeit just a little bit.

Then the intense interrogation began. Otherwise coded as torture for those being questioned.

…

"…and that is what happened up to today." Annabeth finished cooly. Juniper was sitting straight to attention while Grover was eyeing the dark mahogany table in interest. To eat, of course. The last of the four rested his head in his hand which was propped up onto the table which Grover was still eyeing.

Juniper and Annabeth exchanged a look. Boys. No other words were needed for an explanation.

On the other hand, Demeter took in all of their information in silence apart from being the one to ask the intense questions. Much was missing from their story. Some of it just did not make sense. How did the two meet in the first place? Why did they look so comfortable with each other after just a month? Nothing quite added up. And why was an Atlantian royal coming to visit? Greece was not on good terms with them so why else did they visit.

Something was fishy and it was not just the gourmet seafood breakfast that the cooks had prepared. Something was up and Demeter was determined to find out what.

Annabeth could see that Demeter was getting frustrated. Looking back on her fake story, she cursed inwardly. She did not cover everything as it was hard enough for her to come up with a story that happened over the span of more than a year and the confused looks that Grover sent her were not helping at all.

At least, to her relief, Percy and Juniper could keep up decent poker faces and were wise enough to let her take the lead. As for Grover, he nearly blew their cover when towards the end of the story, he said, "Hey, Annabeth. When are you going to tell them that Percy is a s-"

Fortunately, he was cut off by Percy who exclaimed, "That's right! I am a samurai from the ancient lands of Japan and I have come to aid in protecting the princess!" **[A/N] This happened after the Shinobi era in Japan.**

It was somewhat far-fetched but the Gardeners seemed to buy it. Annabeth and Juniper were trying to hold in their fits of laughter. Grover just innocently watched Percy with wide eyes. It was quite a funny thing to see, really.

By this time, the two teenage boys were watching intently to see the outcome. Nontheless, Demeter was still suspicious. But seeing the desperate looks Juniper was giving her and seeing Annabeth fight a battle with her inner self was taxing enough to let the matter slide.

Waving her hand in the air resignedly, she commanded, "Dismissed! Katie, get the servants to prepare or the guests this afternoon pronto." Shooting her relieved glances, the four were thankful things were going their way for once.

But once again, they had no idea that the fates would let them down and one of them was going to be in mortal peril very, very soon.

The question was, who would it be this time?

**END OF CHAPTER**


	18. Chapter 18: Alert! Invading Guards!

**[A/N] Hope you guys enjoy this chapter and I do not own Percy Jackson, Rick Riordan does. A reminder to all: the competition is nearly over and here are the results so far. **

**The Demigod Games: 3**

**Half-blood Agency: 11**

**One Month: 12**

**Road To Recovery: 7**

**Oh and I might not be updating for a while cause I will be working on my new story which will be posted soon. Read and review please! J**

Chapter 18

The preparations were finally ready. The refreshments were prepared, the finest furniture and décor were brought out. The tension in the air crackled like lightning as servants and hosts alike tensely awaited the Atlantian royal and her guards.

Percy was nervously pacing back and forth on the carpet, wearing it out so much that he was causing the carpet to fray. Annabeth was sitting on an armrest, sitting as straight as a chopstick and every muscle tense, deep in thought more so than usual. Grover was nervously chewing on the furniture, causing the servants have to repeatedly tell him off and replace the furniture. Eventually after their many futile attempts, they gave up and just decided to place floral coverings on it. Juniper was wrapped up in her own thoughts, so much so that she did not even try to stop Grover.

When the doorbell rang, the tension increased tenfold. All the servants were commanded by Demeter to get back into the kitchen. Straightening out her dress, she said, "So who will answer the door? It should be someone who knows this Rachel girl otherwise her guards might be alarmed and attack.

Grover and Annabeth's heads swivelled to simultaneously look at Percy. All the others followed suit. Feeling all the pairs of eyes on him, especially Annabeth's piercing glare, Percy gulped. He was hesitant about answering the door as he had a strong feeling of premonition that something bad was going to happen.

However hesitant he was, he looked at the expectant faces of all the others and was about to speak when he was interrupted by the loud banging on the door. "Open up on the order of the King of Greece! An inspection is in order due to suspicious beings spotted in your backyard!"

The four paled remarkably. It was the royal guard. They had been found out.

Katie silently ushered Percy and Annabeth out the door as they needed Grover and Juniper to stay as they had already been seen with the Gardeners.

When the guards in the other side of the door received no reply, the Vice-captain gave the signal to break through the door. Beckendorf tried to intercept the order when he saw "Gardener" on the mail box, but it was already too late. The front men burst through the door with a loud bang. The door flew off it's hinges and fell to the ground. Without hesitation, the guards swarmed in. They used their weapons and turned the whole house inside out within seconds.

Everyone else cowered behind upturned pieces of furniture except for of course, the furious lady of the house. "What do you think you imbeciles are doing?" she hollered, arms akimbo and anger radiating from every fibre of her body. Everyone within a ten metre radius of her shivered.

Demeter stepped up and walked towards the Vice-captain until they were nearly nose to nose. She narrowed her eyes, fists clenching and unclenching at the thought of her precious summer home being destroyed. She then started her rant.

It was truly something to hear. It was full of curses, cussing and raw anger. Even then, the big man refused to back down, having no idea who Demeter was and retaliated with no mercy. On the other hand, Beckendorf was fully aware of who they were dealing with and watched them worriedly, ready to leap into the fray if a cat fight broke out.

Admist the chaos, Percy and Annabeth successfully managed to sneak out the back door with Katie's help, grabbing the spear from the other day along the way. Katie hissed, "Go to Hestia's. She will help you and I will tell Rachel to go there. Quickly go!"

Annabeth and Percy nodded solemnly. They both knew the gravity of this situation. However, neither of them knew the way to Hestia's Hearth. They were about to ask Katie for directions but were cut off by a guard barging through the back door. Once he spotted them, he gave a loud war cry.

He leaped towards them, his spear out and ready. The hard iron glinted in the sun as it headed straight for Percy. Fortunately, he was finally used to his human form and leapt aside, pulling Katie and Annabeth along with him. He then spun around and parried as the guard charged past and whacked him on the head. The guard, now unconscious, lay on the ground as the spear clattered to the floor.

As the backyard grew silent once more, they could hear the approaching guards as they clamoured to get through the maze of corridors known as the Gardeners' house. Percy let out a string of obscenities. There was no way they could leave Katie behind now. If she was caught, the consequences would be dire.

He picked up the fallen guard's spear in his free hand and compared the weights, scratching them against each other to test their durability. The one that he was using prior was slightly heavier but it could easily scratch the other one. He was about to leave the spear behind but was stopped by Annabeth.

"Wait. Won't it be suspicious if we run carrying a spear? Why don't we break of most of the stick and use it as a dagger?"

"I can't use a dagger though…"

"I can. So hurry up, Seaweed Brain."

Percy nodded and used the other spear to cut off the stick until it's length was the same as that of half of an arrow. He handed the makeshift dagger to Annabeth and they immediately set off.

As they disappeared into the dense greenery of the forest, they could hear the guards' footsteps echoing throughout the clearing and the gasps of shock at the unconscious guard.

Percy closed his eyes as he ran, praying to the gods that everyone would be safe.

…

Annabeth, Katie and Percy stumbled through the doors of Hestia's Hearth. Fortunately, it was a holiday that day so the restaurant was relatively empty. Hestia walked out of the kitchen when she heard the bell ring. "I am sorry but we are cl- Katie? What happened? All of you are a mess!"

She was right. They did look horrible. Their faces were red like the crown of a rooster and were panting like crazy. Well the girls were anyway. Percy was used to running from his own kingdom's guards anyway. But other than that, they were relatively unscathed compared to their previous misadventures.

Annabeth then stepped up and gave the altered and shortened version of their story as she leaned against Percy and tried to catch her breath. Katie had plopped herself onto a chair with her heart over her chest.

A big contrast from the girls, Percy stood there casually with his hands in his pockets. The only sign of exertion from their run was his windswept hair.

Just then, a squadron of guards raced along the streets outside the café. Hestia hastily herded the three up the stairs into the living quarters of the building. "Stay in here. I will inform you when your friend arrives. It is too risky with all the patrolling guards."

The three of them obliged as they all trotted up the stairs. They entered a random room with comfy chairs and crashed, preparing themselves for another long wait.

…

The three of them were munching on some tasty chocolate chip cookies and drinking freshly squeezed orange juice that Hestia made, which Percy strangely requested to be coloured blue, when Rachel arrived.

She calmly strolled into the room with flawless grace and poise, obviously trying to impress Percy. Said person just looked at her with a blank expressionless face, much to Annabeth's delight. Rachel was flanked by the Stoll brothers once again. However, when Travis caught sight of Katie, he lost his stoic demeanour and let out a grin that would make the Cheshire Cat ashamed.

Rachel sat down on an armchair facing Percy and frowned when she saw that Annabeth was practically sitting on Percy's lap. Annabeth saw this and smirked, snuggling closer to Percy. "Well? I'm waiting," she scowled.

Percy felt his insides freeze. He had forgotten to decide with Annabeth if they should tell Rachel the full story or the edited edition. Quickly, he used his telepathy:

_Should we tell her everything?_

_No way._

_Wise Girl, I know you don't like her much but I need to tell her everything. She's my friend._

_So what? You don't trust me now?_

_That is not what I meant and you know that. You lose your temper way too easily._

_That's it. You tell her. I'm going for a walk._

_But there are still guards outside?_

_I would rather take my chances than be stuck in here with you and your friend._

With that, Annabeth stood up and marched out the door. Percy's eyes widened. He had to stop her before things got bad. "Annabeth! Wait!"

Rachel growled after seeing how easily Percy abandoned her when Annabeth was being unreasonable. He really did love her. I might as well give up, she thought. But even so, she thought she still deserved an explanation.

"Connor, Travis. Let's follow them. And Travis, please stop your perverted staring. You are freaking that poor girl out." While everyone had been talking, Travis was staring intensely at Katie, so much so that it made said girl squirm under his gaze.

Rachel slapped him upside his head and dragged him out the door with Connor following behind as Katie stared after them in surprise.

She needed an explanation and she needed it now. She would not let anything get in her way this time.

**END OF CHAPTER**


	19. Chapter 19: Sorting Things Out

**[A/N] Hey guys! Sorry I have not updated recently but I have just been suffering from writer's block and I can tell you first-hand that it his horrible! Anyway, I don't own Percy Jackson, Rick Riordan does.**

**The contest is almost over and some of you are close but some of you are not. :P Here are the results so far:**

**The Demigod Games: 4**

**Half-blood Agency: 13**

**One Month: 12**

**Road To Recovery: 10**

**Hope you all enjoy this chapter and please review! If I get more, I may just post a pre-written chapter tomorrow… Hmm. It's up to you!**

Chapter 19

A few seconds after the trio walked out of Hestia's Hearth, Hestia walked into the room where Katie was. "Katie, dear. Should you not follow them? After all, this may very well concern you."

Hestia's words shook Katie out of her reverie. Hastily, she stood up and thanked Hestia then briskly walked out the door to catch up with Rachel and her guards.

Even if she was reluctant to see that pervert again.

When she caught up to them, she called out, "Hey! Wait up!" When Travis turned to look at her, he grinned goofily and waved his hand in greeting, his strict façade immediately disappearing. Meanwhile, Rachel gave her a small smile and gestured for her to follow them and Connor was standing at the other side of Rachel and snickering behind his brother's back. Katie reached Rachel's side as they began to walk quickly to find the quarrelling couple.

And to keep them entertained, a very amusing conversation between the older Stoll and the Princess of the Kingdom of Gardens ensued

"So, did you miss me, milady?"

"Stop trying to hit on me! I have no interest in you at all!" Even as she said this, Katie had a slight tint of pink on her cheeks.

"Oh, really?" Travis said in a patronising tone. "Then why are you blushing so, Princess?"

"I am now starting to regret following Percy and Annabeth…" Katie muttered as she shook her head in annoyance.

"But if you had not, you would not have met me!"

"That was kind of the point."

Ignoring her, Travis droned on, shooting a wink at her in the process. "Now I wonder where you have been all my life."

Finally, Katie recovered her wit. "Consciously avoiding you." She answered with a happy smirk.

This was when Connor lost it and nearly fell to his knees with laughter and the quarrelling duo finally realised that during their whole exchange, Rachel and Connor had been watching them in silent amusement. Even Rachel was giggling, with ladylike poise of course. Travis growled at his twin brother. "Oh just go to hell." Connor just replied through his fits of laughter. "Ok, *laugh* I'll *laugh* meet you *laugh* there!"

Now it was the girls' turn to laugh as the twins started to butt heads. Luckily, Rachel intervened before an all-out brotherhood war could break out. "Guys, focus. We have to find those two and fast! Who knows how much trouble they have been up to in the past few minutes! All of us here know that those two are like magnets for trouble!"

…Somewhere at the edge of the forest…

"Wise Girl! Wait up!"

"Oh, shut up, Perseus. Why don't you go and run back to dear Rachel," Annabeth spat vehemently and ran even faster.

Percy let out a burst of speed and dashed in front of Annabeth. Seeing Percy suddenly appear in front of her, she stopped for a moment and tried to turn away. However, Percy grabbed her elbows gently but firmly an forced her to face him.

Annabeth was panting heavily from her run and shot Percy a murderous glare, her stormy grey eyes flashing like storm clouds with lightning. If looks could kill, Percy would probably be in Charon's boat towards the Underworld right then.

"Annabeth, listen to me!" Percy desperately pleaded with her. He did not want- no could not lose her. Annabeth looked at the current situation and realised she was in no position to break free and Percy was definitely not going to let go of her anytime soon. She growled, "You have one minute. So get cracking."

Percy breathed a sigh of relief. A minute was by far not short but at least she had given him a chance. "Annabeth, I love you and only you. Rachel may be my childhood friend but I have no feelings for her that way! I would never leave you for her or anyone and I would pick you over anyone else in this world and-" he was cut off by Annabeth.

"Fine. Then let me ask you a few questions and I want you to think long and hard about them. Got it?" Percy nodded vigorously.

"First, do I ever cross your mind?"

"…No." Annabeth felt her heart start to break.

"...Do you want me?"

"No."

"Fine. Do you like me?" she choked out, afraid to hear his answer.

"No." He said with more conviction. She felt her heart break once more.

"Would you live for me?" She was starting to get used to his answers even if they did hurt. A lot.

"No."

"Would you do anything for me?"

"Nope."

"Choose. Me or your life."

"My life."

Annabeth did her best not to burst into uncontrollable sobs then and there. "Would you cry if I left?"

"…No." And with that, her heart shattered into a million pieces. She let out a heart-rending sob and broke away from his warm embrace, She turned away and began to prepare to run away for good. However, she was once again stopped by the man that had broken her heart in the span of five minutes.

"The reason why you never cross my mind is because you are always on my mind twenty four seven.

"The reason why I don't want you is because I need you. Without you, I would be an empty shell and my life would mean nothing.

"The reason why I don't like you is because I love you with all my heart.

"The reason I would not live for you is because I would die for you without question.

"The reason I would not do anything for you is because I would do everything for you.

"The reason I chose my life is because you are my life. If you are not with me, I might as well commit suicide.

"And lastly, the reason I would not cry if you left is because I would die if you left."

Annabeth let a lone tear slide down her face and launched herself into Percy's arms, pounding her fists against Percy's chest and burying her head in the crook of his neck. "You idiot! Do you know how much you scared me back there?" Percy bent his head down and used his nose to nuzzle the top of her head. "I'm sorry about that. But everything I said is a hundred percent true and I meant it, I really do."

Annabeth sniffled and murmured, "It's ok. I'm sorry I jumped to conclusions so quickly. I should have let you tell Rachel. After all, all of your friends are mine… Even if I do see them as a threat."

Percy gasped in mock surprise. "You admitted you were threatened? This is a true Kodak moment!" Annabeth gaped at Percy and playfully whacked him on the side of his arm as said man chuckled and hugged her closer. They stayed in each other's warm embrace, enjoying the peace they felt in their hearts. The kind of peace that they had not felt in a while.

Sometimes the fates were cruel. It was once said that when the fates felt like it, they would create a perfect person and later they would get jealous and proceed to tear that person down. Maybe Percy and Annabeth were two examples? Alone, they were hardly perfect. But together, they were like jigsaws in a two-piece puzzle. A perfect match.

It seemed that way as the fates successfully ruined their peace once again. First came the footsteps that they did not hear.

Percy whispered into Annabeth's ear, "I love you so much. But we should get going. These places might be very danger- *gasp*" Then came the betrayal.

Looking up, Annabeth wondered why Percy never finished his sentence. To her confusion, his face wore a very agonised expression and there was a trail of blood trickling down his mouth. Also, his face was contorted in pa-

Wait just a minute. Blood?

Just as that thought registered in her mind, Percy started to sway on his feet and fall backwards. Annabeth tried to keep him steady but his weight was too much for her and he collapsed on the grassy field with a thud. His eyes rolled to the back of his head and he fell into unconsciousness.

Annabeth was too shocked to scream. She stood there, motionless. That was, until she felt a wet patch on her stomach. She looked down and screamed. Covering her whole stomach area was blood. Percy's blood. And there was a lot of it. Her eyes widened. That meant Percy had a wound!

Hastily, she knelt by his side and rolled him into his side. Right there from his back to his stomach, was a hole that was spouting blood. Annabeth felt sick to her stomach as she screamed for help. About half a mile away, the four travelling companions heard her as they picked up their pace.

After a minute of relentless shouting, Annabeth's throat grew tired and sore. She knelt by Percy's side and listened for his heartbeat. She breathed a sigh of relief. At least he was still alive and breathing. Wait. His breathing was growing shallower and shallower as his face grew pale. He was losing too much blood!

Annabeth ripped off part of the extra cloth from the hindering ruffles on her skirt and applied pressure on the lethal wound, trying to stem the bleeding. In her panic, she did not notice the footsteps of the offender thumping against the ground in a steady rhythm as she was focusing on Percy. She only noticed when the mysterious person who had been tracking them all this time when he stopped right in front of her and she saw his polished leather boots.

She looked up, only to be greeted by a familiar face.

"Luke?!" She gaped like a goldfish.

"Hello, Annie. I was watching your moment with Perseus." Luke spat his name. "It was quite touching actually. Although I think you would be much better off if you came with me."

"Like hell I will! And don't call me Annie! But now is not the time for this! Can you help me help Percy? And did you see who did this?" Annabeth rattled on. Luke snickered evilly. "My dear Princess. Do you not get it yet?"

Annabeth had an inkling of what he was trying to hint at but she refused to believe it. She prayed to the gods that it was not what she thought it was as she answered, "…No."

Luke smiled coldly. It was a smile that did not reach his eyes. "You naïve child. I was the one who stabbed your dear Perseus!"

And her hopes came crashing down.

**END OF CHAPTER**


	20. Chapter 20: Traitor

**[A/N] Hey guys! I don't own Percy Jackson, Rick Riordan does. Anyway the contest will be over tomorrow at 12pm so I can write a new chapter. Here are the results so far:**

**The Demigod Games: 4**

**Half-blood Agency: 13**

**One Month: 12**

**Road To Recovery: 10**

**Please send in your votes and hope you guys enjoy this chapter! Please Read and Review!**

Chapter 20

Tearing her attention and gaze from Percy, Annabeth's mind went blank as she stared at Luke as if he had suddenly grown an extra head like Janus. Luke's expression remained cold and malicious. Annabeth spluttered, "H-how could you do this to him? To us? To me? " Her voice cracked with that last word.

Luke answered in a bored and monotone voice. "I gave you a choice a year ago and a few minutes ago and you declined both times!" His voice grew steaily louder and angrier with each word. "Join our side and I can guarantee your safety. That weakling, Perseus should mean nothing to you."

Annabeth snapped to her senses. "Our side? Who else is involved with this? And I will never, ever join you after what you did to Percy! Safety? Maybe you can accomplish that. But I will never be happy without him." Luke snarled viciously.

"I am on the Titans' side. This is your third and last chance to change your mind." He said, choosing to ignore the later points of Annabeth's speech. Annabeth looked around her. The odds were against her this time. Percy was unconscious, she was weapon less and there were no other humans or creatures in sight, just lush greenery. Wait, she thought. Did Percy still have the spear head?

She looked at Luke who was waiting for her answer impatiently. The others would probably have followed them, although only the fates knew how long they would take for them to get. Until then, she had to stall him and lure him into a false sense of security.

Reassuring herself that Percy had stopped bleeding as much, she quickly but silently slid the spear head from his pocket to hers and stood up. Annabeth looked at Luke with steely grey eyes and mentally prepared herself to become the spoilt rotten princess she once was and the Annabeth Luke knew.

She thanked the gods that during her stay at the fortress, Percy had taught her how to use a variety of weapons like swords, spears and daggers.

She said in a flirty and vulnerable voice, "Why Luke, of course I'll follow you." Her acting was flawless even though she was vomiting in her mouth. For the first time in a long while, Luke broke out into a genuine smile. Even though she was acting like she never would, he seemed to believe it whole-heartedly. "That's great that you finally came to your senses! First, let me finish off this guy and we can be on our way."

He whipped out a deadly looking sword and Annabeth started hyperventilating inwardly. She had to stall him. Before Luke started to advance on Percy any further, Annabeth put a gentle hand on his arm and said in a sugary-sweet voice that she never wanted to repeat again.

"Lukey, why don't we let this boy suffer for a little longer? He is in no condition to retaliate so we might as well leave him here to rot. After all, this place is so deserted, even wolves don't come here! He'll die before they arrive even if they come a few hours later. And meanwhile, you can explain to me about these Titans." She gently traced circles over his arm with her pointer finger.

Luke smiled. "I would be glad to, my princess. Take a seat on the grass and I shall tell you about them and their rebellion."

Annabeth was careful to make sure Luke would not spot her as she shot a worried glance at Percy and sent a telepathic apology to him. She crossed her legs and sat on the ground as Luke plopped himself down beside her and began to tell her the story of the Titans.

"I am going to start by talking about our country even if you know all about it as it will make things easier for me to explain.

"In the country of Olympia, there are twelve major kingdoms and many smaller towns as well. Their first rulers were rumoured to be the Olympian gods themselves and all Queens and Kings of the same bloodline are given the same names. They are:

The Capital, Olympus, ruled by the royal bloodline, Zeus

The Underwater Utopia, Atlantis, ruled by the royal bloodline of Poseidon

The Kingdom of Eternal Bindings, ruled by Hera's bloodline

The Kingdom of Music, Poetry and Healing, ruled by Apollo's bloodline

The Kingdom of Hunting, Childbirth and Virginity ruled by Artemis' bloodline

The Kingdom of Blacksmiths and Forgery, ruled by Hephaestus' bloodline

The Kingdom of Messengers, Thieves and Travellers, ruled by Hermes' bloodline

The Kingdom of Wine, Celebrations and Psychologists, ruled by Dionysus' bloodline

The Kingdom of Battles and War, ruled by Ares' bloodline

The Kingdom of Gardens, Fertility and Agriculture, ruled by Demeter's bloodline

The Kingdom of Love and Beauty, ruled by Aphrodite's bloodline

And last but not least, our Kingdom. The Kingdom of Handicrafts and Defense, ruled by your mother's bloodline, otherwise known as Greece

"Hestia gave her city to Dionysus and the Underworld was not really counted as it was full of ghosts and no people. And-"

Annabeth was starting to nod off and quickly intervened. "Luke, you and I know this so where are the Titans going to come in?" She then clapped her hand over her mouth, realising that his explanation was allowing the others to catch up to them. Luke chuckled. "Still the ever-impatient Annabeth I see. Don't worry, I'm getting there.

"So anyway, a few centuries ago, here was this group called the Titans and they tried to take over Olympia and they nearly succeeded. Nearly. Many others tried after that but none ever came as close. They have been secretly regrouping for years and they are slowly gaining power.

"First, we kidnapped that boy to start war between Greece and Atlantis and as the other Kingdoms shall pick sides, it will become the greatest war ever! We will ambush them when they are weak and they will easily overthrow the 'Gods' and everything shall be in place!"

Annabeth remembered her mother telling her about the era the Titans invaded. It was a bloody and brutal war and less than half the citizens survived. The Titans were ruthless. They even killed off their own in the heat of the battle as long as it meant it could kill one of our numbers.

She put a dumb look on her face and queried Luke, "That sounds great! But… Why do you want to kill Percy so much?" His smug expression was wiped off of his face in a second and his voice turned cold and hard like steel.

"Why? Do you still care about that little twit?"

Annabeth hurriedly shook her head. "Of course not! I realised that all my feelings for him were fake. I was just curious is all" However good her acting was, Luke did not seem to fully believe her this time but decided to tell her anyway.

"That's because the mastermind behind the whole operation, Kronos, received a prophecy from Calypso, the Witch of the Kingdoms. It goes like this:

A son of Poseidon shall be your demise,

Unless you gain loyal allies

The human boy stands tall and proud,

With his head high above the crowd.

The only way to stop his plans

Is for him to die at his lover's hands

With him out of the way,

The loyal servant shall be her fiancé."

Annabeth nodded. She could see why they targeted Percy and it all made sense! Percy was a unique indirect son of Poseidon. The Titans were starting to make loyal allies. Calypso turned Percy into a serpent in a futile attempt to make him not human anymore. And the only way to stop Percy was for him to die at his… lover's hands?! That meant that they planned for her to kill Percy!

And the loyal servant was Luke! That was why he went to join their side! Because he wanted to marry her! Annabeth felt all of the colour drain rapidly from her face and bent her head down to face the ground.

Her golden locks tumbled down, shielding her glistening eyes from Luke's intense gaze. However, he noticed her attitude change after he recited the prophecy. He narrowed his eyes and clenched his fists. So she did still have feelings for that guy! And after all he had done and given away all the secrets of the Titans just for her!

He snapped, "Here! Prove your loyalty to the Titans and finish him off!" He threw a bronze dagger at her feet. With achingly slow movements, she picked up the dagger and stood up. She slowly shuffled to Percy's side. She bent down and kissed his forehead, getting the dagger ready.

In a split second, she whirled around and hurled the dagger at Luke. He narrowly dodged it as he smirked with a hint of sadness and said, "I knew it. You still love him. But now I can't let you live now that you know all of our plans!"

He unsheathed a dagger hidden in his boot as Annabeth took out the spearhead. On the inside, they both wished that it had not come to this. Luke said, "It's such a shame that you had not followed me. I don't really want to kill you but orders are orders! Once I kill you, I will take your boy back with me and let one of our ghosts take over it and kill Percy! That way, he will still be dying at your hands!" With those last words said, Luke lunged.

The battle had begun.

**END OF CHAPTER**


	21. Chapter 21: Fight For Survival

**[A/N] Hey guys! I won't be updating for a while cause I'll be in Seoul for about a week. So sorry about that. I don't own Percy Jackson, Rick Riordan does.**

**So anyway, the winner of the contest is **renxoxoxD **who guessed 13 years and 4 months so congratulations! He chose ****_Road To Recovery_**** which I will be writing after I finish this story, along with ****_Half-blood Agency_**** as it received the most votes with ****_One Month _****as a close second. **

**Although I may write the first few chapters so keep an eye out! Hope you guys enjoy this chapter. Oh, and as for my exact age, it is…**

**…going to be revealed at the end of this chapter!**

Chapter 21

Dashing forward, Luke swung the dagger in a wide arc, aiming for Annabeth's neck. "Well, at least he doesn't waste any time!" was Annabeth's only thought as she did not have time to think about much else as she leaped aside in a tumble roll just in time not to have her head sliced off.

Taking advantage of her excessive time usage for the tumble, Luke steadied himself, but hesitated when he had the perfect opportunity to kill her and both sides of the battle knew it. Annabeth had been preparing herself for the cold, sharp kiss of the blade before it sliced through one of her vital organs, but received nothing.

Recovering from her surprise, Annabeth knew that she had to kill Luke if she wanted to survive. She swung the spearhead upwards, undercutting Luke.

Much to her dismay, he had snapped to attention and used the dagger to block it before it could jam itself into his chin. Shock, betrayal, sadness and anger were f of the many emotions that flashed across his face in the mere span of a few seconds.

They pushed against each other. Annabeth upwards, while Luke downwards. Annabeth could feel a vein bulging on the side of her head with the tremendous amount of strength she used to keep the dagger from falling downwards. Luke had the greater strength of the two and to add to that, the force of gravity was on his side so Annabeth was struggling to keep up.

When she felt that things were about to go Luke's way, she jumped backwards and pulled the spearhead towards her. Not expecting the opposing force to suddenly move away, Luke lost his balance and stumbled.

He shot her a murderous glare, the killing intent in his eyes burning at full strength. Looking into his eyes was like looking into two blue balls of fire. It sent chills down her spine but she stood her ground defiantly, refusing to succumb.

At the same moment, they both swung their weapons. As they collided, the distinct sound of metal clashing against metal resounded across the field. This went on for about five minutes.

Either one of them struck and the other parried or they both struck. It was a battle of wills and neither of them were willing to back down. On both sides, there was too much at stake for them to even consider that option.

Finally, their energy gauges were nearly empty. They stood hunched over, facing each other. A lock of hair fell across her face as she huffed and blew it aside as Luke watched her. Luke then remembered all the good times they had together. He would not be able to live with himself if he did finish her off.

He realised that he did not love her the way Percy did. He loved her as a beloved younger sister, a best friend and someone that he could trust with his life. Well, maybe that was not the right thing to say in this situation, but he could see it in her eyes.

She did not want to fight him either. She was just defending herself and the person he loved. At first, he thought he had been jealous of young Perseus but the truth was that he felt that he did not want to give Annabeth to someone he barely knew. Now, he could see how much they loved each other. Annabeth had taken the arrow shot at Percy which Luke himself had tried to shoot and he had chased after her even though he had really important guests to entertain.

As much as he wanted to let them live and fight for their side, it was too late now. Kronos would hunt him down and it would endanger them even more. He had to pretend to be on the dark side, at least until the right opportunity unveiled itself.

He shot one last look at Annabeth and tried to engrave it into his mind before whipping around and running into the forest.

He ran and ran for who know how long, until he remembered that he had left her with Percy dying at her side who was much heavier than her in a deserted field. He then pushed that thought out of his mind. There was nothing he could do about that now.

He looked down and decided to give himself fake injuries before heading back to camp or else it would seem like he let them go without a good fight. He put the dagger to his waist. Clenching his teeth and closing his eyes, Luke quickly dragged the point across his waist, giving him a big but not too deep cut.

As blood started to gush out from the wound, Luke hurried back to the Titan's camp. He had some sabotaging to do.

…With Annabeth and Percy…

As she watched Luke leave, Annabeth felt her jaw drop. After all the fighting and even going to the extents of stabbing Percy, he still had the nerve to turn tail and run? What in the world was he thinking?

Too caught up in the whirlwind of thoughts in her head, Annabeth nearly forgot that the love of her life had a fatal injury and was possibly going to die. How ironic that it was at that moment when the group of four chose to show up.

Upon seeing her crush lying on the grass in a pool of blood, Rachel let out a shriek and dashed to his side. The bodyguards saw Annabeth in a battle stance and rushed to her side. Even Travis tore his attention away from Katie for a while. Said princess was currently tending to Percy's wound and examining it as Rachel put Percy's head on her lap and stroked his head gently.

Tears in the shape of pearls trickled down her face as Rachel assumed the worst. She had thought that the two love birds would have been engaged in a make out session and it had filled her mind with rage. Who ever said that first crushes die easy?

But seeing that they had been obviously attacked, Rachel could only feel remorse that they had not come sooner.

The Stolls snapped Annabeth out of her thoughts as they rushed to Percy's left side where hearts usually were. Even if her thoughts were a mess, Annabeth still had the sense to check for his heartbeat. She laid her head over Percy's heart and waited for a heartbeat.

She waited and waited.

But there was none.

Annabeth let her head go slack on his chest as she let out a small sob. The other four heard it nonetheless and they knew it was over.

Rachel burst into tears as Connor wrapped his arms around her in a comforting embrace. Even if he envied the guy for being Rachel's love, it was still a very sad event. Katie and Travis were in the exact same position as Connor and Rachel were and this time, Katie did not even attempt to push Travis away.

On the other hand, Annabeth was feeling strong emotions of heart-wrenching sorrow. As she cried her heart out, her head slid down to the right side of Percy's chest and felt a faint thump. Assuming it was from the sobs that were wracking her body, she paid no attention to it. Only when her head slid even further was when Annabeth felt the continuous thump of a heartbeat and she knew it was not her own.

Afraid to believe that Percy was actually alive, Annabeth timidly asked Rachel, "Rachel, is Percy's heart on his right and not his left?" Rachel gave a small nod of her head. Annabeth's breath itched in her throat. So that meant that Percy was alive!

However, if her suspicions turned out to be false, Annabeth but her hand over Percy's nose. And there it was! The faint wind of Percy's breath on the back of her hand! Annabeth elatedly squealed. "He's alive! I can't believe he's still frickin' alive!"

In her excitement, Rachel pushed herself out of Connor's embrace, much to Connor's dismay and put her head on the right side of Percy's chest. When she heard the comforting thump of his heartbeat, she smiled. But that quickly turned into a frown as she realised that it was getting fainter and fainter.

Hurriedly, she hollered, "Connor! Go get Apollo from the town's clinic that we were visiting! Travis! Hurry up and get Percy to Hestia's! Now both of you go, go, go!" The Stolls hurried away to do her bidding.

Annabeth nodded. "And I'll go and inform Hestia of our arrival. Katie and Rachel, you guys make sure that Percy's wound doesn't get worse or bleed again." Once she finished those few sentences, she turned around and dashed towards Hestia's Hearth.

But before she could get very far, Katie asked, "Then what do we do after that?" Annabeth stopped, but did not look behind.

"After that, we're going to the Capital! We've got a war to stop!" With that, Annabeth ran for her life.

Maybe not hers, but someone that she would die for in a heartbeat.

**END OF CHAPTER**

**Ok, ok. The truth is that from today (the last day of November 2012) I am 12 years and 10 months old! No joke. I was born on 31****st**** Jan 2000. ;)**


	22. Chapter 22: On Death's Doorstep

**[A/N] Hey guys! Sorry for such a long wait as I had not one solid idea how to continue this story, but now I do! And here it is. I don't own Percy Jackson, Rick Riordan does and hope you guys enjoy this chapter.**

**WAIT! Before you read on, I have also published the first chapter of ****_Road To Recovery _****(Half-blood Hospital). Check it out if you want and please review for both stories!**

Chapter 22

When Annabeth arrived at Hestia's Hearth, Hestia was already waiting for them at the doorway, smiling warmly when she saw Annabeth approach. However, that smile was quickly wiped off of her face when she saw just how bad Annabeth looked.

Annabeth's worry for her lover had blinded her. She had not noticed the multiple lacerations decorating her limbs, another of her dresses torn, or the fact that she looked like she had aged until the age of thirty. When she saw Hestia, she sent a thankful prayer to the gods. When Hestia was within earshot, Annabeth hollered, even when she was panting like a dog from her cross-country run. She and the gang seemed to be having many of those these days.

Just another day in the life of a runaway Princess with a wanted serpent of her boyfriend. Now how many people can say they have that experience, hmm?

"Hestia… pant… Percy… huff… stabbed… coming here. Help!" That last word caused her voice to rise a few octaves higher as she pleaded with everything she had.

An unusually grave look appeared on Hestia's face. "Get in." Without waiting for Annabeth's reply, Hestia dashed into the café. She had taken a shine to the boy and wanted to do everything she could to help save him. She started to grab the supplies they needed. Herbs, bandages, medicine. It was a wonder why she kept her house so well-stocked for emergencies. Although, that was probably due to the fact that Juniper had never been, to put it kindly, a very quiet or mild girl.

Annabeth did not even clean herself up before assisting Hestia and between the two of them, they got everything done in a little under fifteen minutes, including setting up the infirmary. They were not a moment too soon as at that time, Apollo and Percy both chose the same time to arrive at the front doors.

Apollo took one look at Percy and knew this was the patient that Travis had told him about. And judging from the boy's pale skin that looked almost translucent, they were running out of time.

Now, usually, Apollo is a fun-loving guy who acts ten years under his age, which would be nineteen that year. Yes, that is young to be running one of the biggest kingdoms in the country but that was beside the point. Anyway, the only time when he could actually act mature was when they were at war or if one of his patients were in critical condition. And this seemed like one of those times, so there you have it.

Apollo barked, "Stolls! Get that boy to the infirmary stat! And don't move him around too much or else the wound might get bigger! You, with the flower in her hair! Get me some lukewarm water! And as for you, Rachel, as my apprentice, you may assist me. But first, get me a needle and thread. This will probably need stitches." His mouth set in a grim line, he quickly made his way to the infirmary as the others scrambled to do his bidding.

As for the Stolls, they carried Percy behind Apollo. Travis was supporting him by his sides and Connor his legs and they both had sweat dripping down their face. Percy was not exactly light as a feather. Being stuck in a tower as a serpent for three years had given him much free time to work out.

When they finally got him on the bed, Apollo ordered everyone except Rachel to get out. When no one followed his orders, he roared, "Let me repeat myself. If anyone here does not have at least have their first degree in medicine, GET OUT BEFORE I KICK YOUR ARSES TO TARTARUS." And with those scary words, everyone scattered, even Annabeth.

When everyone had walked out the door, it closed with a loud slam, making everyone jump with a start. Connor stated fearfully, "For Apollo to be this mad, it means that Percy's condition is nothing to joke about. I have only seen him this livid once, and that was when…" he trailed off, slightly hesitant to finish that dreaded sentence.

Even though she had a feeling she did not want to hear him continue, she forced herself to ask him with a quavering voice, "What happened?"

Travis bluntly continued, "With no sugar coating, it meant that that patient was the only one Apollo had failed to treat." Everyone but the Stolls and Katie froze. Said girl backhanded him across the face for being so unsympathetic and burst into tears, dashing out of the room and down he stairs.

Annabeth was in a state of shock. Surely Percy would survive, right? Of course he would, she tried to convince herself. He could not die unless it was at her hands so as long as she did not go into the room, he would be absolutely fine. Or so she hoped.

At least he had confessed to her that he loved her. That should break the curse… but then it hit her like lightning. She had not said she loved him back!

Did that mean that she had really… condemned Percy to be a serpent forever? If he even survived, that was

Annabeth let out a sob as Hestia gently stroked her back. "Annabeth, dear, you have been through much today. You should go wash up. There is nothing that you can do for him now." She said gently, the slight waver in her voice betraying her calmed exterior.

Annabeth looked into those two understanding eyes and felt slightly calmed as she nodded and, closely resembling a zombie, walked towards the nearest bathroom.

When she finally watched Annabeth walk off, she turned to Travis, her expression furious beyond words. In a voice that was so unlike her own, Hestia said icily, "You, young man need to learn more about being empathetic. You too, whoever you are…" She said gesturing to Connor.

"…however jealous of the comfort two of those girls feel when they are near Percy." With that, Hestia turned away, her icy demeanour melting immediately as she went to get snacks and tea for Apollo and Rachel. Who knows how long the operation would take?

In the process, she left two boys who were feeling extremely guilty as they realised they had been slightly hostile to Percy even if they had never actually talked properly. They did not even know his history with the girls. They shared glance and made a silent vow with each other to make amends when Percy woke up.

If he ever did, that was.

…

After six hours of intensive surgery, Rachel wiped away a sweaty bang of hair from her face as she opened the door and stepped out. She and Apollo had been frantically trying to patch up the wound. If they had been even a few minutes later, Apollo said that Percy would have died without question. Rachel felt a chill dance up her spine.

The second she stepped out, Annabeth was waiting for her and started bombarding her with questions. "Is he okay? How is his wound? It's not too big, is it? Is he awake?" After concentrating so hard for such a long time, Rachel was starting to develop a headache and snapped, "He's not doing well, ok?"

Seeing Annabeth droop, she immediately regretted her words and wished she could take them back. Annabeth cared for Percy as much as she did, maybe even more. She was just worried, like Rachel was.

Rachel ran her hand through her frizzy, red hair. "I'm sorry for snapping but it's been a long day. However, I am afraid that what I said was true.

"Right now, Percy is in a critical condition. He had lost much blood, a few minutes later and we wold have been too late. The wound on his back was big. Really big. We used about six stitches but it was too painful for Percy as he kept squirming in his unconscious state so we stopped and decided to leave it be for a while.

"He is also in a coma and we are not sure when he will wake up, if he ever will. It could be hours, days, months. Maybe even years. The longest recorded coma in Apollo's land lasted for nearly two years." Rachel took a deep breath of air.

Annabeth let out a nervous laugh. "He won't die as long as I am not near him! The prophecy said he will only die at my hands."

"Annabeth, what were you and Percy doing when he was stabbed? Because it might count if you were in contact with any part of him at the time."

Annabeth was surprised at the relevation. How could she forget something so important? They had been hugging the whole time. Just the icing on the cake of her problems. She moaned and slid to her knees, burying her face in her hands.

She heard the rustling of a dress as Rachel crouched down in front of her. "Annabeth, I'm sure both he and Apollo are doing their best right now. So please, don't give up hope just yet. We still have that war going on, remember?"

Even though it was hard with having come to terms that even though Percy was on the verge of death, the world was still moving, she realised that Rachel was right. Kronos would still rise with or without Percy dead and they needed to stop Atlantis and Greece before they destroyed each other first.

With a shaky voice, Annabeth nodded and was about to grab some parchment to start planning but was quickly stopped by Rachel putting a hand on her shoulder. Turning around, Annabeth looked confusedly at Rachel as the redhead said, "Before we get to all that, we still need to discuss one more topic."

Annabeth wracked her brains, trying to remember what was so important that she had forgotten. "We do?"

Rachel nodded her head gravely and those three words she said next sent Annabeth's brain into a frenzy.

"You and Percy."

**END OF CHAPTER**


	23. Chapter 23: Tratie

**[A/N] Hey guys! Hope you all enjoy this chapter and I don't own Percy Jackson. Sorry for such a short chapter and I will try and make it up to you guys this weekend. Sorry! Please review and hope you enjoy.**

Chapter 23

Annabeth was not sure what made this situation worse. It was either the fact that her rival was the one who brought it up while the said man was on the brink of death, or the fact that the fates were trying to give her a crappy day far worse than usual. And even the usual bad days were pretty bad.

With no idea how to respond to Rachel's blunt statement, Annabeth just stared at the redhead like she head just grown a pair of horns like Grover's. Seeing the look on Annabeth's face, Rachel sighed.

"Listen, it's not that I am going to fight with you for Percy. It is the other recent happenings that I am worried about. Also, the thing about that prophecy about Percy."

Narrowing her eyes, Annabeth crossed her arms over her chest and said, "Why should I tell you?" Rachel smirked and told her that without Rachel and her carriage, there was no way they were going to be able to reach Olympia. Annabeth then let out a string of curse words so colourful that it would have made the kings themselves blush. Rachel, of course, had been around fairly many foul-mouthed merchants in her lifetime and did not even bat an eyelash.

Realising that Rachel was in no way going to budge, Annabeth muttered, "Let's take this outside." Rachel was only happy to oblige.

What they both failed to notice was that a certain twin was stealthily following them.

…

While Rachel and Annabeth were bracing themselves to "discuss" certain things, Travis had finally found Katie in the backyard of Hestia's Hearth. He let out a sigh when he saw her. Why had he not tried to find her here before? Well, there went six hours of perfectly good free time, he thought resignedly. But Katie was worth it, and more.

He spent a few minutes on debating what to do. Even though he had had six perfectly good hours to prepare, he did not even begin to think through what might happen next.

However, when he heard Katie sniffle, he decided to talk to her. Katie looked up when she heard the crunching of gravel and that was when Travis finally knew roughly how hard she had been crying. Her eyes were a furious red from being bloodshot, her face was tear-streaked and he could faintly make out the trails of remains from the salty tears.

Travis was puzzled as to how she could care for someone she had only known for a mere week or so, at least from what he had gathered. His heart went out to her. She had so much room to care for other people that he wondered if she spared any left for herself.

After a few minutes, Katie asked with a snort, "Well? Are you going to ask me to go back in or what? Or maybe why I am still here bawling my eyes out for a guy I barely even know?" Travis' mature answer, that only came once in a blue moon, surprised Katie to no end.

"I'm not going to ask because you obviously don't want to talk about it." Katie blinked. His current empathetic behaviour contrasted so differently with the insensitive one he had displayed less than half a day ago. Thinking that Travis had seen the error of his ways, she decided to answer him anyway.

She took a big breath and said, "I was thinking that if I had not argued with you while we were walking, we could have got to them faster and Percy would not have been stabbed." Another tear trickled down her cheek. "It's all my fault."

Travis' eyes blazed with anger as he grabbed her shoulders and swung her around to face him. Startled by his sudden action, Katie could do little more than stare at him and gape.

"Listen to me, Katie Gardener, this was by no means your fault! I was the one who started provoking you, the one who started all the fights and arguments! So everything is my fault! You can blame me as much as you want but just stop blaming yourself!" He hollered.

Katie blinked at him, her eyes softening. Finally, she tore her gaze away from him and said, "I know that… But I still can't help feeling like it was my fault. And when we thought he was dead, I was so scared. I thought that I had killed him." She buried her face in her hands and a new wave of sobs was ready to take over.

Travis rubbed her back soothingly and embraced her. At that moment, the couple knew that everything was forgiven. When they broke apart, Travis nervously asked, "I'm sorry for all that I have done. Can we… maybe… stat over?"

When Katie gave him a blank look, Travis felt like throwing up and mentally slapped himself for asking such a stupid question. But all that was healed the instant Katie said, "I'm sorry, but who are you?" Travis broke into a smile and chuckled.

"It's nice to meet you. My name is Travis Stoll, personal guard to her highness, Rachel Elizabeth Dare."

Katie giggled. "It is a pleasure to meet you Mr. Stoll. My name is Katie Gardener. Do you want to go for a walk? Unless you are too busy with your bodyguard duties, that is." She said the last sentence with a teasing undertone.

Travis stood up and offered her his hand, giving her a mock bow in the process. "It would be my pleasure, milady." Katie gratefully took his hand and the two started on their stroll with a laugh.

With them walking into the sunset, the scene was like one out of a fairy tale. Anyone could see that they were connected by a strong bond, perhaps even a zing. A zing only happens once in your lifetime and it will only happen with the person's perfect match. In this case, it looks like that particular zing did it's job.

I just wish we could say the same for the couple with a stronger zing.

…

Annabeth and Rachel stood facing each other, much like the cowboys in the western era. If you looked close enough, perhaps you might be lucky enough to spot the tumbleweed. Although it might be made of branches and leaves in this case.

They stood in silence for what seemed like an eternity. Rachel was the first to give in as she said, "I don't think you should be around Percy." She added as an afterthought, "At least until the war is over."

By then, Annabeth was ready to blow her top as she let out a low, feral growl. Rachel rolled her eyes. How immature, she thought. "Well, Percy is only going to die at your hands, so the answer is simple; keep away from him. It's for his own good."

Annabeth raised an eyebrow. "Only so that you can get closer to him and steal him away from me. So it works more in you favour." She said bitterly. Rachel grit her teeth and clenched her fists. How dare she! Even though she knew that Annabeth was right to a certain extent, she refused to let such a thing slide. Her eyes flashed dangerously.

Annabeth met Rachel's glare unflinchingly, retaliating with one that made chills dance up Rachel's spine. "Oh, really." Annabeth said patronisingly with a smirk. Oh how Rachel yearned to wipe that bloody smirk off of her face. Wow, not the best choice of words considering Percy's condition.

Rachel let her volcanic anger consume her as she let out the lowest comment yet. "At least I am not an easily jealous, overprotective and obsessive person!" Ooh. That was just nasty. Connor, who had been listening with silent but rapt attention raised an eyebrow as Annabeth finally lost it.

And that was when all hell broke loose.

**END OF CHAPTER**


	24. Chapter 24: Unresolved Arguments

**[A/N] Hey guys! I don't own Percy Jackson, Rick Riordan does. Sorry for not updating. Things have been hectic preparing for the new school year so I haven't been able to steal time away and I'm afraid to say it may continue like this.**

**IMPORTANT: Updates may come irregularly as I will also be working on ****_Road to Recovery_**** and I have kind of come to a dead end with this story. Sorry for any inconvenience caused. **

Chapter 24

When it was mentioned that all of hell broke loose, that was not necessarily true. Instead, it was the monsters hidden in the deepest, darkest recesses of Annabeth's soul which had broken through the dams that controlled her consuming anger. In short, it meant that Annabeth lost control over her emotions. And the people who truly knew her as just Annabeth- not princess Annabeth -might say it was just as bad.

Or even worse.

Annabeth's eyes flashed as she hung her head, her blonde curls hiding her gritting teeth and the murderous glint in her eyes. Thinking that she had won, Rachel smirked and watched Annabeth's reaction with utter ecstasy. But Connor knew better. He realised that he was not actually supposed to be listening in on such a private conversation and that should he try to intervene, the boiling anger of both girls could be directed at him. The thought of the consequences were dire enough to make him stay still.

In the blink of an eye, which Rachel had the unfortunate need to do so at that critical moment, Annabeth lifted up her left hand and swiftly backhanded Rachel across the face. Caught off guard, Rachel was unprepared and fell backwards onto her bum from the force of that slap. Being rich and of a high standing, Rachel had never experienced much physical pain before, let alone a forceful slap to the face. Connor winced in the cover of the bushes.

Rachel rubbed her hand over her tingling cheek and was about to scream at Annabeth and how she had such audacity to slap her, but bit them back when she saw tears trickling down Annabeth's face, confused as to why she had not seized the opportunity to attack her.

"Is it so wrong?" Came out of Annabeth's mouth in a mere whisper. Rachel barely caught it from her close range so Connor looked in confusion at Rachel's sudden change in expression. "You were the one who wants to take Percy away from me. You were the one who used such a tactless choice of words that I cannot believe you would even consider taking him away in his condition! You were the one who keeps saying that you are over him when you are actually not, and instead taking advantage of the situation to get him for your own selfish needs!

"Yes, I am jealous because I have been slightly insecure ever since you came because Percy told me that you two were to be frickin engaged at the age of thirteen! And your cocky, I'm more superior than everyone else attiude is just so infuriating that I have to control myself from strangling you every time you try to make a move on him! Percy told me to try and be nice to you because you were his friend and I've tried. I've tried so bloody hard to be at least civil to you but do I see you trying? Noo, of course not! Because you think you are just so much better than me!

"I'm 'obsessing' about Percy, you say? Why the crappy hell would I not be! He is on his deathbed! How can I not worry about my boyfriend huh? You have no right to call me any of these things! Have you even properly looked at this situation? Percy may die any second, even as we speak and here we are wasting out bloody time arguing because of who wants him? Well, shouldn't we be focusing on the fact that he might not even make it to see daylight tomorrow?" Even though she had been screaming her lungs out for most of the speech, the last sentence was merely croaked out as she willed herself to say it for the sake of ending some stupid, petty argument.

Annabeth finally stopped panting from exhaustion as she looked up at Rachel's face. The redhead had so many conflicting emotions flitting across her face that it was hard to tell which one was the strongest. The silence seemed to go on and on like it would never end. The tension in the air was so dense that even a butcher's knife would have trouble cutting through it.

After finally calming the raging emotions inside of her, Rachel wiped off all expression off of her face and set her mouth in a taut line. "Fine. We shall discuss this after Percy recovers. We both will have until after the war to win his heart and he will make the decision then. Loser must accept defeat and shall not interfere any longer." Annabeth recovered her bearings and said, "Deal. Now let us find the others and decide the plan, ok?"

Rachel nodded curtly and both girls briskly walked back into the house. From his vantage point in the bushed, Connor silently slapped a hand on his forehead. Even though he felt his heart ache when Rachel did not deny that she still like Percy, he thought this turn of events was quite anti-climatic. And even though they claimed to stop fighting, he could see the plain tension in their posture.

The rigid shoulders, the expressionless faces, the curt and only necessary words. They all screamed that they were both going to lose their cool soon. And he had no desire to be there when that happened.

But back to the matter at hand. Rachel still loved Percy but he was willing to bet his knighthood that Annabeth would win that round and the whole battle itself. And he was determined to stand by her when it happened no matter what. Even though his unrequited love had yet to shine through, he loved Rachel and would be there to catch her when she fell.

He was quickly snapped out of his thoughts as Rachel's barked orders echoed throughout Hestia's Hearth. "Connor! Travis! Get your asses over here! We've got things to discuss. And bring back Katie if you see her! I want you here in two minutes or else you can count yourselves as good as dead after I'm done with you!"

Connor winced. So this was how she decided to take out her anger. By yelling at her bodyguards. _Oh great. This is going to be a hell of a time. Percy, you had better wake up soon or else I will kill you myself! _Standing up, Connor toppled over and landed face first onto the dusty floor as his legs had fallen asleep. He cursed and spit out a mouthful of grimy sand and raced back into the house.

By that time, Travis and Katie were close enough to the café that they could hear Rachel's screams. Travis' face paled remarkably fast as he grabbed hold of Katie's hand and practically started to drag her back towards the house. Katie giggled at the comical look on his face.

…

All three of the summoned had arrived in the living room in a little under one minute, afraid to taste Rachel's wrath. They were greeted by the sight of Annabeth sitting on one of the comfy, cushioned chair with a bored look on her face. She told them to take a seat as Rachel had gone to talk to Apollo about Percy's condition.

They all settled on the chairs surrounding a nice coffee table in the centre. Connor sat on the chair opposite of Annabeth while Travis and Katie sat together on the loveseat **([A/N] *snicker*)**. When Rachel arrived, she nodded approvingly at all present and sat down on the chair in between Connor and Annabeth with ladylike poise.

As her gaze swept across her room, she paused to look at Connor more closely. "Connor?" Thinking that this was his chance, he replied eagerly. "Yes?" "…why do you have sand all over you?" Looking down, Connor realised that he was in fact covered with multiple sand particles scattered all over his clothes and face, particularly around the mouth area. Blushing, he grabbed a tissue and tried to wipe it off, but ended up making it worse. Giving up, he sighed and gestured for them to continue.

Taking charge, Annabeth said, "Ok, guys. Let's get to work. We've got two weeks to stop a feud thousands of millennia old, an unconscious hero and stop possibly the bloodiest war in the history of Olympia. So, no pressure. Anyone have any good ideas?"

**END OF CHAPTER**


	25. Chapter 25: 3 Brushes With Death

**[A/N] Hey peeps and Happy New Year! Sorry I haven't been updating but I gave you all prior warning beforehand and I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Again, I may not be updating regularly from this week on as I will be starting school soon and I'm going to a new school so I have no idea if I will be able to cope.**

**Anyway, I don't own Percy Jackson, Rick Riordan does and hope you all enjoy this chapter. Thanks for all of your support! Btw, I have all rights to the plot and I am not finished yet so please keep supporting, reading and hopefully reviewing!**

Chapter 25

"It's been a whole week already! Just when is he going to wake up?" Annabeth moaned, one of her hands resting on the back of her head.

"It's better than him not being here at all," Apollo grimly replied. Everyone in Hestia's Hearth was squished into the temporary infirmary so it was quite a mess with seven people trying to fit into a tiny room with a bed already set up inside. That ominous last sentence sent a chill down everyone's spine. As much as they hated to admit it, it was true.

Percy's heart had stopped beating three times in the past week and only by a miracle had it begun the steady rhythm Annabeth loved listening whenever she and Percy cuddled. Annabeth sighed. "This will affect everything. We were expecting him to have woken up to days ago. We may need to change our plans and bring him to location 'CC' in his unconscious state." **[A/N] I ain't giving the plan away that easily!**

A ripple of discussion made its way throughout the seven. But having a King around did have its perks. Like, political input or advice, or more specifically, at times like this. "You have to take into account that they might shoot you on the spot once they look inside and see an unmoving serpent inside, right?"

Annabeth groaned and laid her forehead on the cooling surface of a wall. Just another thing she had to factor in. Not that she did not appreciate the advice, but being the brains behind the plans gave you major headaches every now and then. The worst part was that shortly after he had been moved into a stable condition four days before, he had turned into a serpent once more and no matter how many times she or the others girls touched, poked or prodded him, he would not change back. That matter in itself brought on a whole slew of questions and Annabeth being the only one who knew the whole story had to explain everything from the beginning by herself.

Muttering ways she could make changes to it without everything falling apart was tough. If Percy had woken up before or at the time they needed, things would have been so much easier. All the plans had been made, letters had been sent out and everything had been in place. The only problem was the supposed saviour of them all. But at this rate, he might just be their doom. Why did he always have the worst of timings? But she had to admit, the whole not changing back thing might have been her fault and it probably was.

Athena had once told Annabeth that all children of the Athenian bloodline had the same fatal flaw: hubris, which meant they thought they were always right. Except, for of course the rare exception.

Annabeth was no different. She hated being told she was wrong, nearly above anything else which was part of the reason why she always ran after having those rows with Percy. She just didn't want to be told by the person she loved the most that she was wrong. Sure, she loved her parents. But, her love for her father had somewhat waned after being exiled and him wanting to execute her friends and her mother had also slightly neglected her in the past.

She was shaken out of her thoughts by an impatient cough. She needed not turn her head to see who it was as she sighed and wracked her brain for any ideas. Sometimes it actually worked: flashes of inspiration would randomly rain down on her with an ingenious plan or idea in store. She supposed it was a gift from her ancestors and she loved it. After all, it was particularly useful at times.

But just like Percy, it nearly always chose to show up at the wrong times. Then, Katie –gods bless that girl- spoke up, "Why don't we go to a place closer to 'CC'? We still have about a week to give time to Percy for him to wake up so all we have to do is find a safe and secure place closer to 'CC' but not exactly in it so that we can still be in time for the winter solstice."

Six pairs of eyes widened in disbelief. It was so, so simple. Yet, they had all failed to notice it. And here, a girl with no experience in making secret plans beat them all to it. Then Travis, deciding to voice out everyone's opinion and wanting to please Katie, exclaimed, "That's brilliant, Katie! Hey, Annabeth, what do you think?"

Everyone turned to look at our favourite planner. Said girl was currently banging her forehead against the wall repeatedly and muttering on how simple and foolproof it was and why in Olympia had she missed it? Everyone was trying to stifle their chuckles or giggles while Connor unashamedly said, "So there is our answer! Let's get moving people!"

Rolling her eyes, Annabeth silently willed for Percy to wake up soon.

...Percy's P.O.V…

It was cold. And dark. But the first and foremost thought I had was how cold it was. Where the hell was I? It felt like I was floating with nothing to hold me down. Looking down, I noticed that I was in serpent form. Damn. Even in dreams I can't get rid of that damn curse.

Looking around, I saw nothing but darkness except for little dots in the sky that produced light. They were probably the only reason why I could actually see more my hands, albeit not that clearly. There was no one else here either. Is Annabeth here? Or you know what? Maybe it would be better for her to not be here. After all, I would rather suffer this than drag her into it, whatever it is. So I try and turn around.

To my surprise, I swerved in mid-air. It was really fun. Laughing gleefully, I twisted around, did cartwheels and things I would usually never be able to do at home. And then, at the corner of my eye, I see a bright light. It was round in shape and it looked so nice and comforting that I wanted to try and get closer to it. I floated closer, much like a jellyfish. As I neared it, it became bigger and bigger until I was right in front of it. Then, it was about the my size should I be made round and turned into a circle.

Looking at the light wondrously, I saw the things that I have wanted my whole life. I saw my parents chatting happily at the back of our old house in the fields with no stoniness or limits that seemed to be a permanent thing in the castle. And to my delight, all my friends were there too. Even Annabeth. But strangely, she looked older, her hair was longer and she had laughter lines on her face. In fact, while everyone else was laughing and talking she was sitting on someone's lap and staring lovingly at that person. I growled when I saw that look. That was supposed to be reserved for me and only me.

But when I focused on said man, I was dumbfounded. That person looked so familiar with raven black hair and sea-green eyes… Wait! Was that me? I looked so different! Older too. And I looked like I was enjoying myself a lot. And to my astonishment, not much later, three kids –two boys and one girl- ran up to us and gave us a big hug. The Annabeth and Me in the portal thingy laughed and started talking with them. They were happier than I had ever been in my entire life.

As I looked at my other friends, I realised that they all looked older by about a decade or so and they had children with them too. And Connor and Rachel were a couple as well as Katie and Travis. Hold up. Was this the future? My eyes lighting up in joy, I used my right hand to push inside the portal, only to have a searing pain shoot up my arm.

I let out an anguished yell of pain and fell back, yanking my hand out of there. What the heck was that? I huffed and panted, trying to regain my breath. I looked at the portal again and saw everyone being so happy so I decided to try again. After I had rested for a while, I tried again. I managed to stick my whole arm in before pulling it back out again. It really did hurt more than I had expected. Try imagining ten piranhas gnawing at only one arm while you were sticking it into a bed full of needles and other sharp, pointy stuff. Done? Then you might come close to a quarter of what I felt like when I stuck my hand in.

In fact, the only reason I said arm instead of hand was because ten piranhas could not possibly chew on one hand all at the same time. Catch my drift?

But then, I looked at the image once more. It was exactly what I wanted: my family, my friends and Annabeth being there and then getting married to Annabeth and having kids someday. It was perfect and anything I could ever want. If suffering pain would mean I could achieve that, I would go through any lengths to make it true. Even if it meant killing myself in the process.

I braced myself for immense pain and focused on everything that I wanted. I had to do it. I plunged my hand in and let out a muffled scream of utter agony as the pain started up again. As I pushed myself in further and further, I told myself to focus. Think of my friends. Come on, a quarter of the way there… My parents. A third was in.. And Annabeth. I pushed and pushed, until I was half in and the pain abruptly stopped.

I yelled with both triumph and relief as I began to push through almost effortlessly. Almost there. Yes! I was going to reach it! This was it!

But all my hopes and dreams were dashed as I was yanked back. Falling on my bum, I groaned as I began planning over a thousand ways to brutally murder whoever pulled me out of there. However, my thoughts came to a sudden halt as I heard a powerful voice; one that radiated power, strength and endless wisdom. And the effect was enhanced because it was said with utmost seriousness and severity. What was even creepier was that whoever it was, they knew my name.

"I would not do that if I were you, Perseus Jackson. Your time has not yet come."

**END OF CHAPTER**


	26. Chapter 26: To Die Or To Live?

**[A/N] I'm not Rick Riordan so that's the disclaimer done. Thank you all so much for your support and don't worry! It's not over yet! Hope you guys like this chapter and I love you guys! So anyway, this is your last chapter for probably a long time and hope you guys like it. Thanks for reading and please review! **

Chapter 26

…Percy's P.O.V…

The sudden force of being hauled backwards momentarily stunned me as I landed on my bum. Or at least, the closest to a bum that a serpent can have. Shaking my head to get rid of the swirling I felt in my head, I looked around me and saw that there were twelve people with five females and two males watching me carefully as they stood in a semi-circle surrounding me. They were all super tall and were radiating power like I have never seen before. They all commanded respect and immediately, I felt the urge to comply to their every wish.

Snapping to my senses as I fought of whatever that urge was, I grew to full size and got ready to attack when I saw them holding weapons but stopped as I realised they were not attacking me; they were just staring me down. I relaxed slightly but still kept my guard up and remained at that size as strangely, I was only slightly bigger than them.

I could not tell if it was just the proportion of this weird place that made us around the same size or if these were abnormally large people. I looked over my shoulder at the portal where a perfect future was waiting for me. I was about to charge for it again, but a strong hand held me back. I tried fighting, thinking that no one would be able to hold me back if I used my full strength but the person who was was having nearly no trouble at all. Giving up after a few futile attempts, I used my telepathy to talk to the guy and refused to look at whoever it was.

_What are you doing? Let go of me! I want to go there!_

Calmly, the same voice that had previously spoken said, "Calm down, young one. That is not a portal to your home. That is death. Come on out, Hades. You know it is not his time." After his words, I loud and dramatic sigh could be heard seemingly coming from the portal. Moments later, the portal turned black and swirled, disappearing with a strong gust of wind. In its place was a… thing? The same size as all the others. He was dressed from head to toe in black with a crown resting on his head that seemed to suck in light itself. Throwing out his hands, the thing exclaimed, "Zeus, my man!" Zeus? I swivelled around and my eyes widened as I saw the person that was holding me back wearing regal white robes with a golden crown embedded with priceless jewels and a giant lightning bolt.

Suddenly, it struck me as I looked at the eleven others in this place. They were all gods too! I observed them all. And they looked mightier than any pot, wall, carving or painting could depict them. Now that I look closer, I could see them all radiating an aura with their respective colours. Could they be the original Olympians? My own ancestor -Poseidon- was wearing robes that looked like the waves of the sea when he moved. His crown was made of coral and his trident looked even greater than the one that was passed down from generation to generation in my family.

I waved and received a small smile and a nod back before returning to look at the conversation that had been going on while he had zoned out. "…I told you to leave the boy alone, Death Breath. He plays a part in saving Olympia unless you want to see it destroyed. That was plain cruel the way you tried to lure him in. You haven't tried this since… Hercules? Ah, whatever. Please leave at once." With a huff, Hades disappeared in a tornado of shadows and screams.

I blinked once. Then twice, trying to contemplate what just happened. Zeus sighed and clicked his fingers. In an instant, twelve chairs appeared and floated in mid-air along with a small sphere of water. I leisurely floated through the air, shrank myself and entered the bubble. After making myself comfortable, I turned to face the Olympians who had seated themselves and were watching the serpent do backflips in the nice water amusedly.

I stared at them, trying to keep my face expressionless. _Well? What was that? And what do you mean it's not my time?_ Zeus sighed. The other gods frowned, their expressions grave. "We are the Olympians. The original ones. I believe that my brother, Poseidon, is you ancestor. We are here to stop you from making a big mistake. You, Perseus were almost fooled into dying. That portal was not supposed to bring you home. Hades looked into your heart and made it show your greatest desires, knowing you would want to go through it. If you had, you would have died. Right now, you are in the middle of life and death. Should you stay with part of you in there for a long time of fully went through, you won't be able to go back. Oh, and you don't need to use telepathy. You can speak here like a human."

My eyes widened, my mind flashing back to his last few moments of consciousness. Luke had stabbed me in a near fatal spot and now I was like this! That bastard! Wait, but… it didn't make sense. I spoke up. "Wait, why did he want me to die? And if he did, why did it hurt so much? And why are the Original Olympians visiting me?"

This time, it was Poseidon who answered, "Our brother is the god of death. He feeds on it. And since he knows you are the key to the survival of Olympia, he wants to kill you to ensure it ends. He has been bitter since we revoked his Olympianship and wants the country we all hold dear to crumble. And the pain was not under his control. It was the combined negative feelings of all the people who are worrying about you. Frankly, it is quite astounding how much pain it was. Even more amazing is the fact that you still pushed for what you wanted the most. And we were here to make sure you knew what was happening. We were a bit late so I guess I have to thank the pain."

"…So what now? I thank you all from saving me from my death but what can I do? All my life, I've been nothing but trouble. And you are telling me that the reason I can't peacefully live my life is because I'm your and Olympia's stupid hero? Bloody hell! Ever since I could walk or talk or maybe even before that I have been nothing but a fucking burden! On my mother, my friends, my father? I even keep making the one I love cry!

"I can't even scavenge my own life and now you expect me to save thousands of others!" My voice grew louder with every word. All the frustrations came tumbling out; the responsibilities of a prince that I didn't want, the fear of being a burden and a curse on my parents, endangering my friends and causing Annabeth so much pain. For some reason, I felt oddly calm even though I was screaming at probably the most powerful people ever.

When I was finished, most of the gods were looking at me sympathetically, having read my mind and seen my memories. I have no idea how I knew that although I kind of guessed it because I suddenly felt like my head had become an open book and people were rummaging through it like a sock drawer. They exchanged a couple of looks and hesitantly, Zeus said, "Now when you put it that way, it's a little harsh. But… I guess the answer is… um… yes?"

The anger inside of me was not able to be put into words. They say a picture was worth a thousand words, a special moment worth a million. Also, a powerful emotion was worth a billion. That was the kind I was feeling right then and there. Only problem I had with it? It was anger and not the good stuff.

Poseidon saw that I was ready to blow my top and wisely intervened before I could come up with any other ways to kill the gods either than the one thousand already ready to be used and planned to perfection. He walked up to the sphere, holding out a bronze pen and inserted it inside. I swam to it and nosed it. "Percy, I believe I speak for the other gods here." He shot a glare at all of the others that looked like they were about to say otherwise.

"We will let you decide whether to let all your sufferings end or to fight for a possibly better ending. We are sorry for all the pain that we have caused you over the years. The fates are always hardest on those born heroes as they need to be taught the right lessons before they are ready to save the world.

"Some heroes are made halfway while some are born heroes. Percy, you are one of the rare ones; you are both. I trust you to make the right decision. This is a magical pen called Riptide. It will remain with you at all times and will appear in your pocket when you are in human form. Should you choose to live, uncap it when you need it the most. I will support you either way. Just remember when you make your choice, think of everyone counting on you.

"Perseus, you are neither a burden, nor are you a curse. You are a blessing in disguise. Whatever lengths your parents went to to raise you will be paid hundredfold if you decide to live. In here, the fates have no control over you. Your fate is in your hands now and no one else's." With those words, Poseidon stepped back and with a snap of his fingers, all twelve gods were gone along with the chairs, water sphere and pen.

Just then, the scene around me changed drastically. I stood at the intersection of a tunnel and there were two paths laid out in front of me. At the end of both of them were two portals. One was the one I saw just now and the other was one with a lot of war, bloodshed and dying. It was truly horrible. I watched a man reeking of pure evil that was laughing maniacally as he conquered Olympia. My head turned back and forth between the choices again and again, just like a spectator at a tennis match. I always was quite an indecisive person. **[A/N] It is quite an old sport, you know. And the Olympics did start in Greece.**

Now, it was time to choose. I could either choose to die and wait for everyone else as the world ended or I could go back and save the world with the risk of losing the people he loved anyway and in other words; being the gods' pawn once more no matter what Poseidon said.

So, what was a guy like me supposed to choose now?

**END OF CHAPTER**

**Sorry for the cliffies. No flames please! I just got one for one of my other stories and it really hurt even though it was supposed to be a tragedy and I couldn't really bring myself to take down the anon review…**

**That aside, I might update on my 13th birthday on the 31st of Jan so please don't lose interest in this story!**


	27. Chapter 27: A Lethal Mistake

**[A/N] Sorry for the late update guys! School is really tough now and I barely had the time to write this! I don't own Percy Jackson and hope you guys enjoy this chapter. Please review!**

Chapter 27

…Percy's P.O.V…

So, I know what you're all thinking right now. Duh, Percy. Get that seaweed out of your brain and choose to live! Well, sorry but it's not that easy for me, you know.

My life is not one of the best out there, maybe even far from it. The best thing that ever happened to me was meeting Annabeth and don't get me wrong here that is pretty amazing. But… I don't think I have much of a reason to live. Not back then and not now either. I mean, if the world really ends and everyone gets killed, wouldn't it be easier for all of us to just meet in Elysium or something? Instead of having to struggle day and night just to survive. After all, you can't die twice. I hope.

So anyway, I was standing there, facing the portal but not actually looking at it. Maybe if I had been just a little more observant during my brooding, I would have seen that the portals were growing smaller. No just one, but both of them.

My eyes widened in horror as I stood there, gawking like a goldfish. Holy mother of ****. Was this supposed to happen in the first place? They were already making me choose in the first place and now they just have to give me a time limit.

Thanks fates. Just, thanks.

My eyes darted left and right like I was watching a tennis match. And yes, there are tennis matches in Olympia. Just not the ones you guys are probably used to. The two players will beat a green, magical ball of energy back and forth with a racquet and whoever gets hit on the skin disintegrates. Those are the normal ones at least. They also have different colours. The red ones will burn you, the yellow ones electrocute, blue ones will freeze the blood in you veins and the black ones will... uh… let's just say it's not a very pretty sport, shall we? Wait, what am I doing?

While I was so engrossed in my mental recap of the game of Olympia's tennis, I didn't notice some black swirls form and start to twist and turn slowly at first, then faster and faster until it became a rapid tornado. It was only then when I realised something was happening.

I really need to work on being more vigilant. Beating all my opponents in one go to become Atlantis' number one sword-fighting champion? No problem. Looking out for something happening like portals shrinking or a black tornado? Well, you've got me there.

I did little more than watch in horror as the tornado imploded, to reveal the form of Hades. Hades in all his deathly glory spread his arms in mock welcome, conjuring up two plush, black chairs facing each other. He gestured for me to walk over. I hesitated. It was one thing to not choose to live or die but defying one of the most powerful gods was another. Thinking I was referring to the portal, Hades said, "Do not worry, young Perseus. SA long as I am here, they shall not change."

Warily, I sat myself down on a chair, or at least the best I could still being a serpent, watching Hades all the while. Hades began, "This is the time for me to talk and explain things to you. Number one, I do not want Olympia to perish, no matter what the other gods may say.

"Second, you are probably wondering what is happening right now. We are at the place called some name that I cannot be bothered to remember but I do know that it is nicknamed Chaos' Perch, symbolising this was where Chaos stayed when he first created the world. This is where people come to decide to live or die. Although, not everyone gets to choose if not there would barely be any deaths in the world. There is probably only one every generation. The chosen will have to play a big part in how the future is going to play out, have the qualities of a true hero, and also be within saving.

"And I am proud to say that this time, it is you who was chosen. Percy, whichever path you choose to take will change the course of Olympia's future. As for your suffering, the fates made it that way as otherwise, you would not have the same sense of morale or the qualities that make you such a hero. Please. Do not be selfish and go back. Go back to save you friends. As much as I would like it to be, not all of your friends may make it to Elysium with you as I also depends on how they die.

"Make the right decision, Perseus. The fate of the world lies in your hands. Right now, your friends are preparing to bring you to the Capital to carry out your plan and if the soldiers find an unconscious serpent in the carriage, well let's just say your friends will not live to see another sunrise."

With the snap of his fingers, the chairs that I was just starting to get comfortable in disappeared and I once again found myself on my serpent butt. I mean, serpent form wasn't so bad once you got used to it and although it would be nice to change back once in a while, it was still pretty cool. But fruitlessly trying to sit down comfortably was one of the cons.

With a majestic sweep of his black robes, Hades disappeared in a blinding flash of white which was weird since the light was black, leaving a note behind:

_Oh and by the way, it's been about a week since you fell into this state so your friends are quite worried. Also, your heart stopped whenever you touched that portal according to how long you were in contact with it. You will take another five days in real time to wake up which is not that long here so make your choice real quick. They are heading off now._

What? Heading off? To where? And why wasn't I informed? Oh wait, right… I was unconscious and on the brink of death. Ah well, time to make my choice. Hades' words actually made quite an impact and strangely, I trust it. Unlike the other gods, Hades has dealt with the heroes choosing their paths of life or deaths before and knew what the consequences would be as I was sure the other gods would not pay enough attention to this kind of thing.

And now I just realised the portals are shrinking again, even more rapidly this time.

Panicking, I was stuck in between the two choices as the two parts of my mind battled in a full-out war against each other. I took a deep breath and remembered what my mother had told me once when I was very young. "Just follow your heart and don't look back."

So, I followed her advice. **[A/N] OMG. Aren't I just so evil? As for all you guys know, this might turn into a tragedy…**

…With The Others …

"WHAT THE BLOODY FUCK WERE YOU THINKING RACHEL ELIZABETH O' DARE? YOU GAVE THE DRIVER A DIFFERENT SET OF INSTRUCTIONS TO THE DRIVER FROM THE ONES WE _ALL_ AGREED ON?

"AND NOW WE ARE HEADING STRAIGHT THROUGH A CANYON NOTORIOUSLY KNOWN FOR BEING THE LAST PLACE TRAVELLERS EVER SEE! ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL US ALL?"

Annabeth was furious. Steaming. Livid. Vehement. We could go on, but then we would be stuck here for the longest time. Rachel had done something incredibly foolish and made a mistake that could get them all killed and probably would.

It had been decided that Katie would stay behind. Annabeth had felt that she had done and sacrificed so much for them already and refused to let her risk her life and family name as well. So, that left Annabeth, Apollo, Connor, Rachel and Travis on the carriage along with the driver.

Connor and Travis had been in charge of packing supplies and getting more weapons just in case. Apollo needed to be present for Percy's sake and Rachel was needed so that they could see Poseidon personally before the meeting started. Annabeth was in charge of planning the route and strategy. Before she had asked Rachel to give the instructions to her driver, she had shown the plan to Apollo and Hestia. Since they had both agreed that her route was the quickest that would get them to the Capital safely, she had not bothered to show the others including Rachel.

"Bullshit! What everyone? You didn't show me! And I bet you just carelessly made it and have a backup plan for someone to save you while the rest of us just die in a ditch!" Rachel shrilly shouted.

"Apollo and Hestia checked it over. And I didn't show you because I trust their judgement more than your anyway!"

Apollo put a hand on Annabeth's shoulder, trying to calm her down. "Calm down, Annabeth. Screaming and shouting will get us nowhere. But Rachel, that was truly very foolish. What were you thinking trying to change it? Even if you hadn't known that I had checked it over, you know that Annabeth is the descendent of Athena and is one of the best strategists out there."

Rachel pouted, trying to look innocent. "But I was just trying to help… My way is the fastest way and the faster we get there, the faster we can get _Percy_ back to the medical care he needs." She said in a sickly sweet voice, especially when she said Percy's name. It made Annabeth feel sick to her stomach and want to beat the snot out of Rachel.

She really wished she could do the latter.

Gritting her teeth, Annabeth hissed, "Yes, but this canyon we are going through? Yeah? It's called Gold Canyon because this is where gold-diggers mug people for their money and the victims nearly always end up dead!"

Then there was a sudden crack and the carriage lurched forward. Simultaneously, five pairs of eyes turned to see what they had run over. On top of Rachel, Annabeth really feel like throwing up this time when she saw a bunch of bones cracked into tiny little fragments and a half of a skull with the rest of it indistinguishable.

For no particular reason, Annabeth felt a feeling of premonition that something bad was about to happen. The little incident left everyone in silence as the carriage moved onwards through the treacherous canyon. In the silence, nearly every sound or movement made everyone jump and look around anxiously. An hour passed with nothing happening. They started to let their guard down.

But why is it that something bad always happens when they do?

One moment, there was absolute tranquillity. Then, they heard an anguished shout from their driver cut off midway and everyone tensed up. What was happening? The horses were neighing like crazy now and they could hear shouts and the high-pitched clink of metal against rock. Seconds later, both carriage doors were yanked off of their hinges and the two sitting closest to the doors- Connor and Travis- had long metal blades against their throats. Then they heard someone with a voice radiating superiority and evil bark out.

"Get out of the carriage and put your hands up! Now! You have been surrounded!"

**END OF CHAPTER**

**Please press this nice review button below and review this story if you like it~ :3**

**Oh and I also got a twitter account. Please follow me! NickyTheAweshum**

**\/**


End file.
